The Green Monster
by tgwWhale
Summary: Everybody loves Ichigo! Do you have any idea how hard it is to be any of the other characters? Ichigo gets all the guys! Ichigo gets all the stories! Ichigo gets all the fame and glory! Hey, the rest of us Mew Mews are heroes, too! Why is it always... Ichigo? Curses on her!
1. Lettuce

_This story is set within the year after the last manga involving the Mew Mews ("Tokyo Mew Mew a la Mode," which I have never read). Thus Ichigo, Lettuce, and Mint are about 15 years old. Zakuro is older. I believe that the original Toyko Mew Mew manga (which I have never read, either) said she was 15 (when Ichigo was 13). However, the anime hinted that she was older - which makes a lot more sense, given the character - and this story pictures her about 20 years old, maybe 21 or 22. Pudding is assumed to be about five years younger than Ichigo, or about 10 years old. Berry is one year younger than Ichigo.  
_

_The names used are the names from the English fansubs of the Tokyo Mew Mew anime series. If Berry ever had another name than "Berry," I don't know it.  
_

**The Tokyo Mew Mew Girls in  
**

"**The Green Monster"  
**_**  
**_

**Chapter 1: Lettuce  
**

Midorikawa Lettuce hesitated, her right hand over the door handle, her left hand clutching a perfectly-wrapped package. She wore a green skirt, of course, and white tank-top that showed a lot more of her curves that her typical outfit might. She kept hesitating, looking down at her feet and chewing her lip. It had been over a year, now, that she had wanted to do this, dreamed of doing this. Today, she would do it. It was now or never.

Today, she would confess her love.

It made no sense, she knew. Ryou was too old for her, and not her type. She was 15, and he had to be about 20, though he never told them just how old he was. And he was a bad boy: sullen at times, cocky all the time. Lettuce was a perfectly-behaved girl, almost ridiculously kind and patient. Ryou sometimes had a foul mouth, while Lettuce never used any off-color words.

But he was handsome, and tall, and slender. And he was athletic, and _so _intelligent; and Lettuce found his intelligence attractive beyond belief. And his bad-boy attitude thrilled her. There were times that it was so boring being her parents' Perfect Dutiful Daughter. And so she had begun to crush on him, then to obsess over him. But he had ignored her; she had kissed him only once, when he was unconscious and she had saved him from drowning. But that had been more than a year before, and he had ignored her since. So Lettuce had made up her mind: she would have to make the move. She would confess to him. She would wait no longer.

So she had prepared a perfect lunch for him – prepared it with all of the care and all of the love that she had. She included all of those special dainties that she thought he loved, and arranged them ever-so-perfectly in their box, and wrapped that box without a single wrinkle or flaw. The way to a man's heart was through his stomach, they had always said. And so Lettuce, with the kind of perfection she was capable of, prepared for herself that way to his heart.

And she had dressed for the occasion. Her tank top was flimsier, and clingier, and cut quite a bit lower, than the clothes the others had seen her wear. She had always been the most shapely of the younger Mew Mews, though she had never dressed to show it. And she had secretly thought that she had a better chest than even Zakuro herself. So she dressed to show those curves, and surely Ryou would see them. She even wore contact lenses, now; no more big round glasses. Her huge blue eyes would attract him also, even if they did clash with her long, naturally-green hair.

Yet she was afraid. There was always the fear of rejection, and, Lettuce had known plenty of that in her life. But she was a Mew Mew. She had faced Deep Blue and the rest of the aliens and so many of their Chimera Animas. She had faced the Saint Rose Crusaders and all that they could do as well. People might have thought that she was a shrinking violet, because she was not loud and pushy in the way that other girls could be – like Mint, for example. But she was brave, as brave as any of them; though she was quite sure that what she was doing now was quite a bit more frightening that facing a Chimera Anima.

She was ready; it was time. She swallowed hard, and reached out, and knocked on the door.

There was no answer. Lettuce swallowed again, and looked down the hall. She could use his lack of response as an excuse to run. But no; she was brave. With a trembling hand she reached out and knocked again.

Then the door opened, and Ryou was there. He was buttoning his shirt; maybe he was going out. His sparkling blue eyes looked upon Lettuce, and she gasped a little, with her heart caught in her throat. But she was Lettuce; she was brave. And so somehow she quietly said, "Ryou-san. May I come in?"

He shrugged, and sort of nodded, and she stepped trembling over the threshold. She was in his room now, in his room for the first time. She had planned so many things to say to him, but they would not come to her mind now. So she just stood there uncomfortably, while those divine eyes looked her over.

After a few uncomfortable seconds, Ryou spoke: "Ah, what's that you have?"

Lettuce looked down at the package in her hands. "Just a little something," she muttered. Then she looked up. "For you…"

He rolled his eyes a little, and said, in a rather bored tone, "Why?"

It was the moment of truth. It was now or never! Lettuce choked. The words would not come! But she was Mew Lettuce. She was as brave as any of them. And so, quietly, the words came out.

"Because… because… I love you." Her huge eyes looked into his, pleading with him.

Ryou rolled his eyes again, and muttered, "You've got to be kidding."

The words hit her like a knife through the heart. She could say nothing; every word died in her throat. But then, finally, "Why…?"

He turned away. "You're a cute girl, kid. But there's a lot more to attraction than just being cute. You're…"

He paused before continuing. "You're 'way too young. Someone your age can't excite me." He turned back to her. "I really don't get excited by kids who think it's cool to sew plushie toys."

She couldn't breathe. No words would come. Her heart was screaming, but her body would not move. Then, finally, she held the package out to him, and whispered, "…Ryou…?"

He took the package from her, shrugged, and placed it on the desk. Then without another word, he turned his back and walked out the door, leaving Lettuce staring into space.

She had done her best, dressed herself as well as she could, prepared the best gift for him that she could prepare. And he had brushed her off as if she were not there. Her heart shattered within her breast, and tears flowed freely down her cheeks, while her breath came in desperate gasps.

She looked down at the box on the table. She had put so much love into it, and he had not even opened it! Her hand reached out, and took it: the sign of her failure as a woman. She was worthless, just a child who sewed plushie toys. She looked at the package, wrapped so perfectly, and suddenly anger surged within her. She hurled it with all her strength against the wall, where it smashed and fell crumpled to the floor. It was like her life: crushed and worthless.

Then, on the desk where the box had been, to the left of the laptop computer that was there, she saw a framed picture, a picture of pink-haired girl with cat ears: Mew Ichigo. The pictured smiled flirtatiously, mocking Lettuce's broken heart. Why Ichigo? The little tart already had a boyfriend, her supposedly-precious Aoyama-kun. Why would she need Ryou's heart also? How greedy and selfish could she be?

And then the screen-saver kicked in on the laptop, and rapidly images began flashing over the screen: images of red-haired girl with violet-gray eyes, images of a pink-haired cat-girl with pink eyes, images of Momomiya Ichigo, images of Mew Ichigo. Some were quite revealing; how had Ryou gotten them? Though at least none were obscene. But all the pictures were of Ichigo; there was not one of any of the others, not even of Zakuro. There was just an endless stream of images of that stinking, selfish, two-timing, red-topped tart. The images mocked Lettuce, gloated over her shattered heart, spat in her face, laughed at her shame. Lettuce could take it no longer. She took that hateful computer with both of her hands and hurled it against the wall where she had thrown the present, and smashed it, taking a good gouge out of the wall as well. It crashed to the floor, utterly ruined.

Lettuce, being Lettuce, wondered for a second if Ryou had ever backed up his computer. Then she drove that foolish thought from her mind. She hoped he hadn't! Then all those awful images of that filthy Ichigo would be gone for good.

Finally Lettuce took up the framed photo, and in raging anger threw it against the wall as well. It shattered and fell to the floor between the crushed package and the smashed computer. She could feel something new in her heart, something she had never felt before. Her love had been turned to pain, and her pain to anger; and now from that pain and that anger grew something she had not felt before: deep, abiding hatred. Lettuce, who had been so kind that she had tried to reach out in love and understanding to the aliens who were trying to destroy humanity, now knew, for the first time, true hatred.

She did not hate Ryou; she could not but love him. That would never change. But she hated that greedy, selfish red-haired tart that had ruined everything. She walked over to the broken, crumpled picture, and ground it under her heel. Then she turned, and as her emotions finally overwhelmed her, she fled out of the door.


	2. Berry

**Chapter 2: Berry**

Shirayuki Berry fidgeted and squirmed while they waited there in the office of the Café Mew Mew. Keiichiro had called them in; it was an emergency, he said. So they all had dropped their waitress loads and come running in. But now, they waited. As usual, Ichigo was late.

Ichigo was always late, Berry thought. Berry had taken over the leadership of the Mew Mews after Ichigo had gone to England for a while. When Ichigo had come back, Berry had maintained her leadership, and had led the Mew Mews to their victory over the Saint Rose Crusaders. But still, so many times the others deferred to Ichigo, as if she still was the leader. Even when she was late for work, they all excused it – except Mint, of course. Mint, at least, had a little sense. But the others seemed to treat Ichigo as if she were the real leader, even when she was late.

Berry was more than a little bitter about all of this. Berry had always had been the most popular girl around. Everyone at school had said she was the prettiest, with her shining blonde hair, trim figure, and bright eyes. She was never dull like Lettuce, moody like Mint, foolish like Pudding, or cold like Zakuro could be. And she was never lazy and late and disaster-prone like Ichigo. Ichigo! What did they see in that _baka?_

And this day Ichigo wasn't just late; she was failing to show up at all. Even the other Mews were starting to get uneasy; and so Shirogane Ryou finally spoke up. "Well, I suppose we have to get you going. Ichigo's cell phone seems to be turned off. Either she'll show up later, or she won't." The Mews all looked at him, and he continued, "There's a disturbance in Kumano Park. Indications are that it's another leftover chimera anima."

The girls crowded around him, and Berry spoke for them. "What kind of chimera anima are we dealing with?"

Ryou scowled. "There seem to be a number of them. We haven't seen yet what they look like. You girls will have to check them out."

Zakuro spoke up. "Where are these chimera animas coming from? Are the aliens back? These things just keep popping up. We never seem to be rid of them."

Ryou shook his head. "There haven't been any indications that the aliens are around at all. But to make sure, we contacted them. I talked to Pai. He assured us that the aliens haven't been back since we disposed of Deep Blue."

Zakuro raised her eyebrows. "You can communicate with the aliens?"

Ryou shrugged. "They showed us how. It has to do with transmission through a wormhole."

Then little Pudding piped up. "Pudding doesn't trust them!"

Ryou shook his head. "I don't, either. But as I said, we haven't detected their presence. And they can't land their spaceship, or pop in and out of this dimension into their alternate one, without making a big signature that our sensors couldn't miss."

Lettuce then asked, in her typical quiet voice, "Then why do these things keep popping up?"

Shirogane shook his head. "We're not sure. But a lot of the parasite aliens – those little jellyfish things that turn normal creatures into monsters – weren't collected by R2000. Unless Ichigo herself destroyed the chimera anima, R2000 usually wasn't present to collect the parasite alien. My guess is that uncollected parasite aliens just stay in the shadows, and then sooner or later, they enter some random creature and make of it a chimera anima. That's why most of these monsters you fight now aren't very powerful. The host creatures aren't rationally chosen, and so the monsters created are weak."

Then things grew silent, and they all stood staring at each other. It got very uncomfortable, and finally Berry said, "Let's get going, and get those chimera animas."

But Pudding objected, "Pudding wants to wait for Ichigo."

Zakuro nodded. But Berry said, with some bitterness, "We can handle these monsters without Ichigo. Who knows when she'll show up? Meanwhile, people could be dying."

So Ryou commanded, "Tokyo Mew Mew! Go!"

And they went, running out the back door, transforming as they ran.

They quickly ran to Kumano park, and as they neared the front gate, they encountered more and more people fleeing in terror. Things looked bad, and bad they were. As soon as they entered the park's front gate, they began to see the chimera animas. And there were a lot of them: the parasite alien had infected a hill of ants, and giant mutant ants were running everywhere, destroying everything in sight.

The Mew Mews attacked immediately. Berry led the way, and chanted, "Ribbon Loveberry Check!" Her attack blasted one of the chimera ants, and destroyed it. Then the Zakuro Spear, the Lettuce Rush, and the Mint Echo each destroyed another ant. The ants were as large as they were – some were larger – but they did not seem all that powerful.

But there were hundreds of them; and they were ants. Instinctively they worked together, and they gathered themselves and attacked the girls from all sides. Pudding tried to block the attack from their front with a Pudding Ring Inferno, but the ants simply devoured it! Ants poured upon them from all over, and no matter how many the girls destroyed, a dozen seemed to replace each one. The Mew Mews were being overwhelmed.

An ant lashed Pudding's right leg with its deadly mandibles, nearly catching her in a grip that would have taken the leg off. Zakuro's whip destroyed the ant, but more kept piling in, their mandibles clacking together hungrily. The girls were trapped, back to back, nearly unable to use their attacks. They were exhausted and desperate, and and spattered with ant gore. Their attacks grew weaker and weaker. Hope was fading. They had defeated every enemy – and now it looked as if they would fall to a bunch of ants! Mew Pudding, weakened by loss of blood through her terrible leg wound, collapsed, completely spent. Zakuro took a stance over her, to defend her to the end; but the hordes of chimera ants kept coming, seemingly in endless numbers, overwhelming the last of the girls' defenses.

And then, at the very last, they heard the chant of a wonderfully familiar voice: "Ribbon… Strawberry… Surprise!" Glancing up toward the park entrance, they saw a pink-clad girl spinning in the air, and then she held her Strawberry Bell out, and a stream of scintillating, multicolored power poured from the Strawberry Bell and swept a whole attacking side of chimera ants away. Suddenly, the girls were free from attacks from one side, and they were able to concentrate their attacks in one direction, forward. The ants in that direction began taking a terrible beating, and then the Strawberry Surprise flashed by them again, scything down a horde of ants on their other side. Now the ants were overmatched, and they fell in piles. It had seemed that their numbers were endless, but once Ichigo's attack had turned the tables, they were no match for the Mew Mews, and in a matter of just a few minutes the entire ant army was destroyed.

Ichigo settled down beside them, smiling, and the girls all mobbed her; all, that is, but Mew Berry. Berry frowned, and shouted, "Hey! There's got to be a nest somewhere, and a queen ant at the center of it all!" And of course she was right, and they found the nest soon enough: the hole was over two meters wide. There at the bottom of the hole was the queen ant, truly massive. Berry destroyed it with her Loveberry Check, and they made sure that nothing remained alive in the anthill. Then, finally, they turned to leave, with all of the girls still mobbing Ichigo.

Why Ichigo? Berry's eyes darkened. They all acted as if that red-haired fool was the leader of the Mew Mews. Her tardiness had nearly gotten them all killed, and yet they adored her. She had gotten to play the hero only because she wasn't there when they needed her. Yet the others didn't care!

They completely ignored Berry. Yet it was Berry who had led them into battle, and Berry who ended it when she destroyed the ant queen. Berry ground her teeth. How she hated that lazy, stupid red-haired fool! As she watched fellow Mew Mews pass through the park gate ahead of her, still mobbing that ugly, pink-clad moron, she swore to herself: she would hate that lazy _baka_ forever. And some day, she would beat her. Yes, she would! And then the rest of those Mew Mews would know who really was the leader, who really was the best. And it surely wasn't that red-haired _baka!_


	3. Mint

**Chapter 3: Mint**

Aizawa Mint carefully placed her teacup on the table and sighed. There was less than half an hour to prepare everything before the café was scheduled to open, and it seemed that no one would show up to do the job. Berry wasn't scheduled to work that day, and Pudding was gone to some teacher's meeting concerning one of her siblings. Lettuce had been in a total funk for days, though Mint had no idea why; and she wasn't there. And of course, Ichigo was late - as usual.

But Zakuro was there, at least. She hadn't been working much at the café lately, because she was starring in another film and they were shooting her scenes. But she had come in that day, and Mint's eyes grew dreamy as she saw her idol come in through the kitchen entrance. Never had anyone been so beautiful, so slender, so graceful as Fujiwara Zakuro. Her feet danced across the floor as she moved, hardly touching the tiles. Her long, lithe dancer's legs stretched far from the floor up to a curvy round booty (Mint would never think that Zakuro had something as crude and vulgar as a butt). And above that, her figure slimmed to a tiny waist and then swelled to full and shapely breasts. Her rich, long, dark hair danced as she walked, to a tune counter to the one made by her feet. Her face was as perfect as any artist could imagine, with dark sapphire eyes that were beautiful beyond human. Mint sighed again as she stared at the perfection that was Fujiwara Zakuro. She knew that never could any other human being be as attractive, as desirable, as divinely perfect.

And then she rose. There was no one else there, just herself and Zakuro. Even the guys had gone somewhere. She was alone with Zakuro. She was acting on impulse, but she knew what she had to do. Mint walked up behind the older girl until she stood only half a step from her. Then, without hesitation, she spoke, in a half-whisper. "Onee-sama?"

Zakuro turned, and was somewhat startled by how close the younger girl stood. It was ever-so-rare that anything could make Zakuro the least bit flustered, but Mint's closeness had somewhat shocked her. Her eyes looked down into Mint's, who stared up into those deep pools of sapphire beauty. Zakuro was silent for a few seconds, trying to figure out what was going on; but then she said, "Minto, do you want something?"

There were another few seconds of silence, when the only sound was the breathing of the two girls. And then Mint breathed a single word: "You." And her arms encircled Zakuro's slender waist while her lips opened slightly and reached up for Zakuro's.

But Zakuro's lips did not open in return. Instead she spoke, in a low but very hard voice, "Minto, let go of me, or I will hurt you. I'll pound the crap out of you." Then she pushed the younger girl away, not roughly, but firmly.

For a second wild emotions raced through Mint's heart: hurt, anger, shame. Then she mastered herself, at least a little, and she said bitterly, "Why not? I've loved you since I first saw you! And you never even acknowledged my love! What's wrong with me? Am I not good enough for you?"

Zakuro turned away from Mint and took a deep breath. Then she exhaled and spoke: "Minto, when will you realize that my door just doesn't swing that way?" She turned back to Mint. "I've tried to be your friend, but that look in your eyes makes it hard. Desire, longing, even lust at times. I suppose if I had any desires in that direction, maybe I'd give you a little, just to cheer you up. But Minto, forbidden love is not my thing."

Tears came into Mint's blue eyes. "If you tried me, you'd like it. You'd love it!" But Zakuro just shook her head.

So Mint said, "You say you're not that way, but you never had a boyfriend."

"What do you know about my private life?" Zakuro responded. "Do you think that I would keep the rest of you filled in about my dates? When you're in my position, you spend half your life hiding your private life from the tabloids. And from people like you here at the café."

"So that's it!" Mint muttered. "You think that if people saw you with me, it would ruin your precious image!"

For a second anger flashed through Zakuro's dark eyes, but just as quickly she mastered herself, and her voice did not rise. "In this day and age, if I had an affair with the under-age heiress Aizawa Mint, it would probably enhance my career. No, Minto. As I said, it's just that my door doesn't swing that way."

Anger flashed through Mint's eyes in return. "And I suppose you're worried about what the others here would think."

But Zakuro just shook her head. "They don't even notice what passes between us – mostly. Pudding's too young, Lettuce is too naïve. Berry is so full of herself that she doesn't really notice anyone else. Ichigo noticed, though, a long time ago. There's a lot more to that girl than you might think."

Mint frowned at the mention of Ichigo's name. That vulgar girl! Yet clearly she was closest to Zakuro of all the Mew Mews, and Zakuro had given her advice repeatedly on her love life with that immature boy Aoyama. Mint gritted her teeth. "Ichigo?" she asked incredulously. "How can you like that oaf instead of me?"

But Zakuro just shook her head and turned away. "Minto, it saddens me that you won't believe me. My door doesn't swing that way. Leave it at that." And she walked back toward the kitchen.

Mint was just about to run after her to throw herself upon her, when the front door opened, and Lettuce came through it. And Mint sighed one more time. Another chance was lost!

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

It was several hours later, and the evening had deepened into twilight. Mint sat quietly, sipping her tea, trying, with little success, to get the others to do their jobs properly. Her eyes swept the room, seeking Zakuro. Then she saw her, heading toward the back entrance. But she was not alone. Ichigo was with her!

The two girls went together through the door and disappeared outside. And Mint knew that something was going on between them. She could tell by the way they looked at each other, by the way they whispered so secretly, by the way they walked so close to each other. Quietly she rose, and headed out – not through the back, lest the others see her following Zakuro. She slipped out the front door and then crept around to the back.

She could not see the other two. There was a park back there, the park where Ichigo had first encountered a chimera anima, had first met Ryou, and had become the first Mew Mew. Surely those two girls had to be out there, somewhere. Mint slipped into the bushes and headed away from the building, creeping through the shadows. Then a small glade opened in the woods before her; and there she saw them.

Zakuro and Ichigo were locked in a tight embrace. They were not close to Mint, and the darkness was gathering swiftly. Mint could not get closer to see exactly what was going on, but in her mind's eye, she could see it all: Ichigo's filthy hands caressing the soft curves of Zakuro's body, Ichigo's crude and vulgar mouth tasting the wonderful sweetness of Zakuro's lips… Why did Zakuro, in all her perfection, waste herself on that vulgar loser, that childish idiot, that worthless skank with her shapeless body and ugly red hair?

It was bad enough that Zakuro had lied to her, telling Mint that she had no interest in such romance. But she had chosen Ichigo – chosen her over Mint! Mint was a ballerina, Mint was heiress to one of the largest fortunes in Japan! And Mint had… _class. _Why? Why wasn't she good enough? Why?

Mint closed her eyes tightly to keep any tears from leaking out. And suddenly, her heart changed. Suddenly, she did not care what Zakuro saw in that pathetic, ugly girl. All that mattered was that that dirty skank Ichigo was taking her Zakuro away from her. That would not be! Somehow, she would stop it! Zakuro would be hers!

She opened her eyes. The two girls had ended their embrace and were walking back toward the café. Mint slipped away, sneaking back toward the front door. The pain left her heart; it was completely empty now. Then slowly her heart began to fill, not with pain or shame this time, but with passionate hatred. Not for Zakuro, but for Ichigo. She would win Zakuro back, she thought grimly. And if she had to destroy that red-haired slut to do it, so much the better!

So clouded by hatred was her mind that in the darkness she didn't notice the tree root before her, and she tripped and fell. She hit the ground hard, falling on her side. She lay there gasping for several seconds while her racing heart slowly calmed itself. It seemed as if nothing was broken; but she would be bruised. Bruised, and dirty, like some common, vulgar girl.

But no! She had class; she had never been common, and never would be. She would never be like that vulgar skank Ichigo. Never!


	4. The Club Meets

**Chapter 4: The Club Meets**

Lettuce watched them from across the room. That disgusting redhead Ichigo was at it again. She was supposed to be working, waiting on tables, but she was shirking her job again. And she was flirting with Ryou! They were laughing and carrying on, and Lettuce could see the sparkle in Ichigo's eyes as she giggled at Ryou's bad jokes. Ryou never told jokes – except to Ichigo. Ryou never laughed with anyone – except Ichigo. Ryou wouldn't give the time of day to Lettuce, who loved him so. But he would laugh with Ichigo, whisper with Ichigo, flirt with Ichigo. And that two-timing red-haired idiot already had a boyfriend! Pain tore through Lettuce's heart every time she saw them together. But this time, it seemed worse than ever before.

She thought that she should take out her cell phone and take pictures of them, or maybe a video, and send them to Aoyama. That naïve fool thought he was Ichigo's boyfriend, and he was ridiculously faithful to her. And then the little slut openly flirted with other men! Openly flirted, and who knew how much more? Lettuce knew that no woman could resist Ryou's desires. Who knew what they did together, behind closed doors? If Lettuce would just get some pictures, then she could show Aoyama the truth. And then Ichigo would be hurt, in the same way that Ichigo had hurt Lettuce.

But as the anger grew in Lettuce's heart, she decided that ruining that faithless Ichigo's relationship with Aoyama would not be good enough. She herself wanted to make her hurt; and anyway, she didn't want to hurt Aoyama. Lettuce had always been the good girl, the kind girl, the forgiving girl. She never wanted to hurt anyone. But that whore Ichigo was an exception. She wanted to pound her right there. She was bigger and taller than the red-haired wench. She wanted to just cross the room and pound her to a pulp there, right in front of Ryou. Then Ryou would know who was better!

But Lettuce had never been in a fist fight. She had fought magically as a Mew Mew so many times, but had never once traded fists with anyone. Maybe she would lose the fight! So, she thought, why not do it the easy way? She could transform, and let the little slut have it, Ribbon Lettuce Rush right in her fat butt. _That_ would teach her! _That _would get her back for all she had done to Lettuce!

But there were customers in the café, and she couldn't transform in front of them, much less blast that wench Ichigo with a Lettuce Rush. And so Lettuce just stood there, staring, her heart filled with raging anger.

And then, a voice. "Lettuce? Lettuce-chan?" At first, Lettuce hardly heard it; but then she looked to her side. Mint stood there.

Mint looked into Lettuce's eyes, and spoke in a half-whisper. "Do you really hate her that much?"

"What do you mean?"Lettuce asked, dissembling.

But Mint said, with a wicked little half-smile. "Lettuce, dear, your eyes hide nothing from anyone. And right now they're so full of hate that it seems ready to spill out all over. You really hate her, don't you?"

Lettuce, embarrassed, tried to wriggle her way out of it. "Hate who?" she mumbled. "I don't know what you mean."

Mint snorted. "Look, girl, I can see what you're looking at. It's that stinking red-haired skank Ichigo, isn't it?" Lettuce, now ashamed, said nothing, and so Mint continued, still in a half-whisper, "Just know you're not the only one who feels that way."

Lettuce looked into Mint's eyes, and saw understanding there. Was there actually someone she could share her hurt with? And so she took a huge chance, and said, in a voice as low as Mint's, "That whore! Look at her, flirting with Ryou. Cheating on her precious Aoyama-kun!"

"And flirting with the one you desire," Mint said with the nasty half-smile returning to her lips. Lettuce's eyes flew open. In her naivete she had assumed that no one else had noticed how much she desired Ryou. For a second anger rose in her heart against Mint.

But dark-haired Mint just repeated, "Just know you're not the only one who feels that way." She turned away from the tall, green-haired girl. "And if you haven't noticed, Ryou isn't the only one that little skank messes with."

Lettuce hadn't noticed Ichigo flirting with anyone else but Ryou, and so she asked, "Who else? Keiichiro?"

But Mint just smiled, and whispered, "After work, tonight, there's a meeting of a special club at my house. You can come if you want."

But Lettuce objected, "I don't know. My parents are so strict…"

Mint shook her head. "Look, you're fifteen now, and there's no school tomorrow. Call them and ask if you can't stay out for a couple of hours after work. Tell them that you'll just be coming to my house with the girls, so they won't think you're stepping out with some guy."

Lettuce nodded. She thought her parents were much too strict, anyway. Still, she hesitated.

So Mint whispered, "Look, my parents are gone, as always. My brother, too. We'll be alone. We'll have a lot of… fun."

Lettuce wondered who the "we" were, and what "fun" meant. But it was exciting to think of breaking a few rules. And she was looking forward to spending some time talking to Mint, ripping up that ugly red-haired slut. So she nodded and whispered, "I'll go there, right after work. I'll just call my parents first." Then she raised her voice slightly above a whisper, and asked, "And Mint, what club are you talking about?"

Mint turned back to Lettuce, once more with the nasty half-smile twisting her lips. "The Hate Ichigo Club," she said, and winked.

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

Lettuce stood for a few seconds before the front door of the great mansion. She had been to Mint's home before, of course; but the whole place was quite intimidating. Lettuce's family was quite well-off, but their house was nothing in comparison to the magnificent structure that was home to the Aizawa family. And then there were all the servants and so forth; Lettuce would never get used to being waited on. So she hesitated; but she had said she would come. And she wanted to talk to Mint and share with her all the hatred she had for Ichigo. And she didn't want to look like some kind of childish coward. So she rang the doorbell.

No answer came. Lettuce wondered which servant would answer; perhaps the downstairs maid, or maybe Mint's old Baaya. But no one came, and Lettuce wondered: just how long was proper before ringing a second time? Such things were important with dealing with people like Mint, who had class. Lettuce felt poor, ignorant, and utterly without class. But she would not run away and look like a fool. She rang the doorbell again.

And then, the door opened; but no servant stood there. Mint herself had come to the door. "Lettuce-chan!" she said brighty, greeting her guest. "Please come in, and meet the rest of the club."

"Minto-chan," Lettuce responded, bowing; and then she stepped into the great house. She followed Mint as she ascended the grand staircase up to her room, or more properly, to her suite of rooms. Lettuce noticed that none of the help seemed to be around.

Mint spoke as she climbed, "I must apologize that there is no help to wait on us tonight. I gave them all the evening off."

Lettuce wondered what that was about. But she said, "I can make the tea, if you want me to." It was not proper for Lettuce as a guest to make the tea, but she was sure that Mint never dirtied her hands with such common things as making tea.

But Mint said, "Lettuce-chan, tonight we won't be having tea." This left Lettuce mystified; Japanese _always _served tea to their guests. But Mint said no more before they got to a dark door, which Mint opened. "It's time to meet the rest of the club," she said.

Lettuce followed Mint into the room, and Mint closed the door. "Meet the Hate Ichigo Club," Mint said.

Lettuce had expected that there would be a reasonable number of members present; but only Berry was there. She understood: Mint, Berry, and she herself were the ones who had to put up with that creep Ichigo every day, and so they were the ones that had learned to hate her. But why did Mint and Berry hate her so? Had Ichigo flirted with their boyfriends, also?

"Have a seat," said Mint, gesturing toward a set of soft, and clearly expensive, chairs.

Lettuce took the seat, but did not sit back. She was very uneasy. What was going on?

But Mint smiled, and said, "As I said, tonight we have some fun." And she slipped into an adjoining room and returned with a silver tray. On the tray were a large bottle and three glasses – tall goblets of Western design, very un-Japanese. She placed the tray on a low table, and popped the top from the bottle; and something frothy and bubbly spilled out. "Du Chateau, 1995," she stated with a smile. "My father said that was a very good year."

Lettuce was not so naive that she did not recognize champagne. She had seen it in many movies and TV shows, but she had never tasted it. Her strict parents preferred traditional Japanese things, and she had the understanding that when they drank alcohol, it was generally sake. And of course they had never offered any to Lettuce. But Mint apparently did not care about parents' rules. Her parents were gone, and she had dismissed the staff for the evening; and Lettuce understood why.

Berry took her glass and attacked the champagne greedily. Mint smiled as she did so, and Lettuce understood the smile: Mint was feeling superior to Berry, who clearly did not know the fine points of champagne consumption. Then Lettuce took her glass, and again she hesitated. She had never consumed alcohol before, and she knew her parents would not approve. But she would have just a little, she decided; it would have been insulting to the host if she didn't have any. So she took a quick whiff of the bubbling brew, and, deciding it didn't smell so bad, took a small sip.

She didn't like it much. It was rather sour and dry and picky. She wished they were having tea. But the others were drinking up, and so she did, too; and by the second glass she thought that it really didn't taste so bad. The wine warmed the blood in her veins, and she began to feel heated; so to cool herself, she had another. Her tongue loosened, and she began to chatter with the other two girls. Finally, after she had lost count of the number of glasses, she had worked up the courage to ask her question.

"So, Mint, ah, Berry – just why do you hate Ichigo so much?"

They looked at her. Mint seemingly was handling the alcohol better, and she had a sly smile on her face. Berry had a smile, too, but it was wide, and stupid. Lettuce noted in her rapidly-fogging brain that Berry was really drunk.

"Because she's such a slut," Mint began. "She can't keep her filthy paws off of anyone."

"Yeah!" Lettuce came back. "She's always flirting with Ryou. What a skank!"

"And she's so full of herself!" Berry added. "Just what does she think she is? She always has to be the center of attention!"

"She thinks she's such a sexpot that everyone wants her!" Mint whined. "She even messes with Zakuro."

Berry looked quite stupidly at Mint, and said, "Ah, Minto, I think Zakuro's a girl."

"I know, you _baka!" _Mint muttered. "Duh, if you haven't figured it out, she'll take anyone, guys or girls. Even that creepy alien!"

"You mean Kisshu?" Lettuce said, laughing. "_What _a creep! And what an idiot! He must have no standards at all, to chase after that ugly Ichigo."

Mint added, "Those alien women must be really scary-ugly, for Kisshu to get all hot for Ichigo's ugly face." She paused, then added, "Unless maybe it's the ears. When they pop out, she looks like an alien, only uglier." The girls all giggled.

"Ah, Minto," Lettuce said, "I won't think it's her face he was all hot for." They all laughed out loud.

"Yeah, she's _[f-bomb] _ugly!" Berry chimed in. "You got it right, what an ugly face! And the ugliest hair I've ever seen!" Berry was inordinately proud of her blonde hair, and everyone knew it.

"And a flat chest!" Lettuce said. Lettuce was inordinately proud of her own chest, which was far from flat – though she kept that pride secret.

"And a big, fat butt!" Mint said. Mint was inordinately proud of her small, petite dancer's figure. In fact, Mint was inordinately proud, period.

"Yeah, her butt's so wide that one of these days she won't fit through the door!" Berry laughed. They all laughed, though the joke was stupid and childish. It was also untrue; Ichigo's figure was as trim as the others', except Mint's.

"You know," Mint said, "It's just a shame that that whacko alien didn't just grab her and haul her off to Lovatron, or wherever those aliens are from."

"Yeah!" Berry responded. "That woulda got rid of her, once and for all. And there would be a lot less ugliness in the world." Then she stopped, and for a second she stopped giggling. "Only one thing – what's a Lovatron?" Berry was very drunk.

Mint ignored Berry's question, and went on, "You know, there has to be a way to get Kisshu back here, and have him take care of Ichigo once and for all."

"But he's a zillion miles away, and we don't have a spaceship," Lettuce said, sadly. "Too bad…"

"Yeah, too bad," Mint said. She picked up the champagne bottle on the table to pour herself another, but it was empty. It was the fourth one they had emptied. "Damn, all out," she muttered. "Well, there's other stuff, for sure." She got up slowly, and walked unsteadily into the other room, and after a few seconds reappeared with a cut-glass decanter with an amber liquid inside.

"My dad, he calls this, uh…he calls it, ah, uh… _single-malt Scotch."_ She was silent for several seconds, looking at the fancy bottle. "Yeah, that's it. _Really _good stuff." She poured some into her glass, and then into the glasses of the other two.

Then she signaled that they should stand. Berry hardly could, but Lettuce made it to her feet. Mint raised her glass. "A toast," she said in a loud, but badly slurred voice. The others raised their glasses – sort of.

And then Mint said, _"Death to Ichigo!"_

_"Death to Ichigo!"_ Berry mangled the words, but they came out. Lettuce said nothing, but the other two didn't really notice, as they all drained their glasses. Mint and Lettuce drained their glasses down their throats. Berry missed her mouth, and drained her glass all over her face and the front of her shirt.

"Yeah, she's gotta die!" Mint said.

"Slowly and painfully!" Berry added.

Lettuce said nothing again. She was roaring drunk, but even then she didn't think it was funny talking about killing Ichigo, as much as she hated her.

Mint was talking again. "Since those worthless aliens couldn't do it, we'll have to take care of her ourselves."

"I'd like to take the Loveberry Rod, shove it down her big fat mouth, and roast her from the inside out," Berry shouted.

"Yeah!" Mint said. "And Ribbon Mint Echo, arrow right in her big fat butt. A hundred times!" She laughed cruelly, and Berry joined in.

But Lettuce said nothing. Somewhere in some corner of her dark, wine-fogged brain there was still a little light. And as much as she hated Ichigo, she knew it was wrong to talk about killing her, even in jest. And she was far too drunk to know whether they were joking or not.

So then she said, "Minto…" The other two were laughing so loudly that they didn't hear her, and she had to raise her voice. _"Minto!"_

The other two stopped laughing and looked at her with disgust. "What da ya want?" Mint barked.

"Minto, I need to use the bathroom."

"What? Can't handle your liquor?" Mint laughed. "Just remember to get your face down into the toilet bowl when you barf, so you don't miss." Both Mint and Berry laughed cruelly.

"Minto… where?" Lettuce asked. She didn't need to vomit, but she did need the bathroom badly.

"The second door on the right," Mint said, pointing in more or less the right direction. And Lettuce managed to find the door.

When she emerged, she made her way back to the other two, keeping her left hand against the wall for support. The other two girls were sprawled in their chairs, giggling.

"Mint, ah… Berry," she said, "I wanna go home now."

"Already?" Mint blurted out. "What a wuss!"

"Minto, I'm too drunk, 'way too drunk. I gotta go home. Thanks for the good time." She bowed the slightest bit, and nearly fell over.

"Just make sure the door locks behind you when you leave," Mint muttered. Then she and Berry began giggling again.

Lettuce turned from them and made her way out of the room and down the hall to the stairs. By this time the entire house seemed to be spinning around her, but her mind was strong and she forced herself to try the stairs, one step at a time, holding the railing with both hands. She stumbled once, half-way down, but held herself up with the railing. She made it somehow to the bottom, and staggered across the room to the front door. She got it open and stumbled out into the night. She did shut the door behind her, but completely forgot to check to see if it locked. Then she stumbled off.

The cool night air seemed to help her mind to clear the slightest bit, and she forced it to think. What would she do now? She could take the bus back home, if she could find the bus stop; but then all of the passengers would see how drunk she was. She could call a taxi; she had enough money, and her cell phone. She thought she knew how to get the number of the cab company. But then she would get home quickly, and her parents would see how drunk she was.. That would never do. No, she would walk, or try to. She would sober up a little on the way.

She thought hard to remember the way. At the front gate of Mint's mansion she had to turn to the left and go down the hill. That she remembered. It was just for a couple or maybe three blocks, and then she would hit the main thoroughfare. If she could get there, she would be on familiar ground, and finding her way home would be easy. It would be easy, that is, if the world would stop rocking and spinning. She started off slowly, unsteadily, moving down the hill. About two blocks down, the world began spinning violently, and she staggered into an alley and grabbed a garbage can, where she emptied her stomach: one heave, two, three. The fourth heave was dry, and she fell to the ground, dumping the garbage can. But she struggled to her feet, feeling a little better, and turned back toward the street.

There she saw and old couple, watching her and shaking their heads. Lettuce had never felt so ashamed in her life, but she had to keep going, and so she walked past them. At least it was an old couple that would not hurt her. In the shape she was in, if she fell in with the wrong kind of people, she would be defenseless. But she had to get home.

She made the main thoroughfare, and slowly the alcohol fog in her head began to clear. And she felt ashamed. She was drunk as a skunk and she knew it. She, Lettuce, who never broke any rules, was staggering drunk. And she had spent the evening hating Ichigo, and laughing at all kinds of horrible things they all said about her. They had even laughed about killing her! They had not been serious – had they?

Never in her life had Lettuce felt so ashamed. And she still had to face her parents. She wiped her mouth, to make sure no barf remained on her lips, and slowly, unsteadily made her way up the street.


	5. A Plot Forms

**Chapter 5: A Plot Forms**

It was the following afternoon when Lettuce saw Mint and Berry again. She emerged from the dressing room into the dining area of the Café Mew Mew, and there she saw the other two, standing near the far wall and talking softly to each other. Lettuce approached them with much deference; and then she said, with a smile, "Ah! Survivors!"

Mint responded with a sneer. "Well, I see you must have found your way home. It must have been an adventure, getting by your parents! I'd have to say I've never seen anyone with so little ability to handle a little wine."

Lettuce ignored Mint and spoke to Berry. "I was worried about you. I didn't think you'd make it home, you were so wasted."

Berry hung her head for a second. "I slept over at Mint's house. It was all arranged ahead of time."

Lettuce was silent for a second. She recognized that by not inviting her to sleep over, they were excluding her from the heart of their nasty little club. But she knew she could gain nothing by starting a fight about that. So she spoke, again looking at Berry but ignoring Mint. "Fortunately, my Dad is a big anime fan, and there was something on the TV he wouldn't take his eyes off of when I got home, so I just announced myself and slipped past him. My Mom was in the kitchen, and didn't come out before I got into my room. That's good, because when I lay down on the bed, the whole room started spinning. I suppose I would have puked all over, except that I had lost most everything in my stomach while walking home."

Mint snorted. Then she said, "Look, over there! She's at it again! Flirting with Zakuro!"

Lettuce looked across the room. Ichigo was indeed talking with Zakuro, but Pudding was with them, and Lettuce couldn't detect any flirting. She didn't remember everything from the night before, but she did remember that Mint had said that Ichigo was messing around with Zakuro. Well, she thought, if what was going on across the room was what Mint meant by messing around, there wasn't much to worry about there. It wasn't like the way that she so blatantly flirted with Ryou.

Then Mint said, "You know, they guys aren't in tonight. We girls are here alone."

Lettuce shrugged. "So what? Keiichiro said that he would have plenty of stuff baked ahead of time. We shouldn't have any trouble taking care of the customers. We have all six girls here, and there aren't many coming today."

"Exactly!" Mint said, in a low half-whisper. "This means that we have a little time to get some things done."

Lettuce frowned. She didn't like Mint's tone of voice. "If you want to start something with Ichigo, this isn't the place or the time."

Mint rolled her eyes. "No, you big _baka_. But this might be our chance to find out what really goes on between Ichigo and Ryou, Ichigo and Keiichiro, Ichigo and Zakuro…"

"And how are we supposed to do that?" Lettuce asked. "The guys aren't here, and Zakuro wouldn't talk about any private stuff. She never does. What do want to do, beat it out of her?"

Violent anger blazed for a second in Mint's eyes before she controlled herself. Lettuce had been a tenth of a second from getting a fist in the mouth.. Then Mint said, once again her low half-whisper, "Ryou doesn't commonly lock his room, and he's the type to have surveillance cameras in this place. If he does, they'd feed his computer." Her mouth twisted into an ugly sneer. "Knowing him, I wouldn't be surprised if he had one in our dressing room."

This time the anger flashed through Lettuce's eyes. "Never! Ryou would never do such a thing!"

Mint shrugged her shoulders. "No? How's about finding out?"

"We shouldn't…" Lettuce began.

But Berry snickered, "Coward! You say you love him, but you're afraid to learn the truth about him!"

Lettuce was really angry now. "You little creeps! My Ryou isn't like that! I trust him!"

"I don't," Mint said. "If you think he's so good, then you have nothing to lose by checking it out, right?"

Lettuce bit her lip. She didn't want to do wrong again. She didn't want to break into Ryou's room. But she did want to prove to these two that her Ryou wasn't a pervert, that he didn't spy on them, that he would never do anything so horrible as put a camera in the dressing room. Still, she made one more effort to dissuade the other two. "If he has a camera in his room, and we break in, he'll know it all. We'll be toast!"

Mint shrugged. "What's he going to do to us – fire us? He needs us. We're the super-heroes; he isn't. He'll yell a lot and make a fool of himself, but there's nothing he can do to us."

Then Berry said, slyly: "Listen, Lettuce. Mint and I will sneak up to his room first, and then you follow a few minutes later. If we find any surveillance going on, then you can pretend that you're stopping us from doing the wrong thing, and you can be a hero to him."

That sounded altogether too easy to Lettuce, but she said, "Uh, OK. You two go now, and I'll follow you up in about five minutes." Then she turned to go and wait on a trio of young girls that had just entered the café.

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  
**

A few minutes later Lettuce finished bringing some cake and tea to the three young girls. Then she told Zakuro that she needed to use the bathroom, and slipped through the kitchen door. Seconds later she was approaching Ryou's room. There was no one there to see her, but she crept silently, hardly daring to breathe. She reached the door and touched the handle. She wondered if the other two were actually in there, of if this was some kind of trap that they were setting for her. But then she heard low voices on the other side of the door; it had to be Mint and Berry. So she turned the doorknob. It was not locked.

The room was dark, except for the light of a laptop's screen. Ryou's new computer's screensaver was just like the old one's: a monotonous stream of images of Ichigo. The other two girls were sitting at the desk, staring and those revolting images with distaste and hatred.

Mint looked up. "Lettuce, your Ryou has one real sick crush on the big skank."

Lettuce wanted to defend Ryou, as she always did. But she was as disgusted with this endless stream of Ichigo pictures as the other two. She wanted to smash this computer, just as she had smashed the other! But then Ryou would know for certain that they had been in his room. So she just reached out and tapped the touchpad, and the stream of images ceased. "All I can take of that sh…." She stifled her voice before she finished the cuss word.

Minto then took over the computer, and began trying to search through the files. But immediately a popup window demanded, "Enter password."

The girls looked at each other. How would they ever find his password? Ryou was a genius; his password would undoubtedly be impossible to crack. Mint and Berry looked at each other, and Berry whispered, "Maybe we should just get out of here."

They began to rise to leave, but Lettuce said, "Try _ichigo._" Mint smiled wickedly, and typed in the hated name; but it did not work. "Try _momomiyaichigo_," Lettuce said' but that failed also. So Lettuce continued, "Try _mewichigo._" But that did not work, either.

Lettuce was really intelligent, brilliant far beyond the others. And she grasped Ryou's obsession far more than they did. She was sure that his precious password would be based on the skank's name. Then, she thought: maybe a number?

So she said, "Try a number. Try lucky seven. Type _mewichigo7. _And Mint did; and they were in.

Berry looked at Lettuce with a respect that she had never shown before; but Mint was absorbed with searching through the files. There was a lot of strange software on that computer, but she could find nothing that looked like surveillance records. They checked his browser; all records had been erased. "Porn sites, I suppose," Mint muttered. Lettuce wanted to smack her over the head, but she didn't.

Then Mint chortled, "There are 3,124 pictures in his screen saver. That's 3,124 pictures of the biggest skank in Japan. Gosh, is he a sicko!" Lettuce gritted her teeth to keep from screaming at Mint and pounding her to a pulp.

And Lettuce knew she had to go. If she watched any longer, she would lose her temper and attack Mint. And besides, the others outside by now had to know that something was going on, and they might come looking. So she said, "See, I told you. He's not a pervert, there's no nasty surveillance stuff in there. I'm going back now, so the others don't get too suspicious. I'd suggest you two come, too."

"We'll be right there," Mint said. "Just a few more minutes."

Berry nodded, and Lettuce slipped out alone. Mint looked at her watch. She didn't have a lot of time. But there was something in that computer, something that Lettuce had not seen, but something that interested Mint very, very much.

Berry was also turning away to leave, so Mint said, "Berry-chan, wait up. Look at this."

The blonde girl looked back at the computer screen, and read what was there. And then she smiled excitedly, and whispered, "I think… I think we've found the answer to our problem."


	6. The Monster Strikes

**Chapter 6: The Monster Strikes**

It was nearly a month later, just after school let out for the summer. Ichigo had been late for work again, and Berry had been hard on her when she arrived. Over the last several weeks there had been more and more angry exchanges between Berry and Ichigo; clearly, Berry wanted to be in charge, and Ichigo wouldn't accept her leadership. But that day things had gotten almost out of hand. Berry had openly berated Ichigo and called her lazy to her face; and Ichigo had responded, her dark eyes afire with anger: "Watch it, you blonde bimbo! Or I'll show you who's really in charge around here!"

At that moment Ryou had stepped between them, and had sent Ichigo to the dressing room to put on her uniform. He was worried, very worried. Something had happened to his Mew Mews. It wasn't as simple as a power struggle between the current leader and the former one. There was an ugliness, and a bitterness, underneath everything. It was as if all his girls had begun hating each other. He had almost given in to the desire to ask Zakuro for advice, but that would have required that he admit that he didn't know everything, that he didn't have all the answers. And his ego still wouldn't allow that.

So nothing had been done to solve the problem. And so when Ichigo had just finished taking the order of a young boy and girl – the way they giggled, it might have been their first date – Berry approached her, carrying a tray of ice cream sundaes: a chocolate one, a butterscotch one, and four with strawberries. She was just coming up toward Ichigo, who was heading for the kitchen, when she stumbled. And six large ice cream sundaes, four with strawberries, dumped all over Ichigo: her clothes, her face, her hair.

"Oh! I'm _so _sorry!" Berry's voice reeked with sarcasm.

Ichigo began to explode. "That was on purpose, bimbo!" she shrieked, and she cocked her right arm to give the arrogant blonde twit a knuckle sandwich.

But before she could swing, Mint, of all people, stepped between the two rivals. It wasn't like Mint to risk herself in any way to keep order, but she was nearby, and, apparently, someone had to do it. "Ichigo!" she said, quite loudly. "She said she was sorry!"

"She didn't mean a damned word of it!" Ichigo responded. There were times that Ichigo's temper was as hot as the color of her red hair, and this was one of them. "Get out of the way, Minto! This time, she'll pay for the way she treats me!"

But Mint did not move, and now Ryou came running up. He took Ichigo by the shoulders, and all but screamed in her face. "No!"

She tried to escape him, to get at Berry. But he shouted, again, "NO!" Her eyes were wild. And so Ryou held her all the more tightly, and said, in a much lower voice, "Please! We have customers! Now, go to the dressing room, get out of that mess, and take a shower. Then go home. And I mean it, go home. I'll pay you for the rest of the evening. You can't wait tables any more, anyway, until we get your uniform cleaned."

Ichigo struggled all the harder to escape his grasp, and his hands squeezed her shoulders ever more tightly. Then he whispered, "Ichigo, for my sake, please!" And suddenly the red-haired girl turned from him and stalked toward the kitchen door, and the dressing room beyond it.

"I'll go with her," Mint said, and she hurried after the raging cat-girl. Ryou was so thankful that someone would go with her to smooth things over that it never occurred to him that Mint never did anything with anyone to smooth anything over.

Mint followed Ichigo into the dressing room. Ichgo kicked a chair over, and seemed ready to smash any loose object she could get her hands on. So the dark-haired girl said, quietly, "Come on, Ichigo. You can't stay. They have to clean your uniform. Take a shower, get cleaned up, cool off. They can't fire you – remember, you're the superhero, and they're not. And they can't afford to make an enemy of you, unless they want to get Ribbon Strawberry Surprise in the face some day. Go home, and I'm sure for a while they'll never schedule you to work with that blonde airhead."

Ichigo smiled ruefully at Mint's insult of Berry, and then she undressed and headed for the shower, leaving her things in a pile on a chair.

A short while later Ichigo emerged from the back door of the café Mew Mew. Mint walked with her for a short while, to keep her calm, and to make sure she didn't come back to fight with Berry. About a block from the café Ichigo turned off the main road to take a shortcut through a park. It was the normal way she took going home, and at the entrance to the park, Mint bade her farewell. Mint turned back toward the café, and Ichigo went on alone, lost in dark and evil thoughts.

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  
**

It was still light, though the sun was setting; the summer days were long in Tokyo. It was warm, and the air smelled fresh and full of life, and birds sang; but Ichigo saw none of, nor felt any of it, nor heard any of it. She was lost in her dark thoughts. She hated going to the café now. She used to like it there; those girls had been her best friends. Now, it was all pain for her there. Mint had always been hard for her to get along with, and Berry clearly hated her. Even Lettuce – sweet, sweet Lettuce – was cold to her, or so it seemed. She wanted to leave the café; then, she could have a lot more time with Aoyama-kun. She felt that she owed something to Ryou and Keiichiro, and so, she had stayed on; but there were no enemies around now. There was no reason to keep the Mew Mews together. And if any enemies appeared, they knew where she lived, and they could contact here there.

She had just about made up her mind – she would leave the café for good – when she entered into an open space. The trail she followed was mostly in woods on this side of the park, but there were a few openings; and she entered one and the trees opened above her, showing the sky. She didn't see the sky; her eyes were on the dirt at her feet. So she did not see him until she heard his voice.

"Hi, kitten! How's my favorite toy?"

Ichigo stopped suddenly, and looked up; and there he was. Kisshu! The green-haired alien stood on the path before her, just a few feet away. He stalked up to her, and then, as Ichigo stood open-mouthed, he grabbed her and kissed her lips!

Ichigo tried to push him away. "Where the hell did you come from?" she half-shouted. "And get your hands off of me!"

"Not this time, kitten," he said, with a smirk. "This time, you're mine. For keeps!" He tried to kiss her again.

Ichigo twisted violently and pushed herself away from him. "You big creep! Get away from me!" And her right hand reached for her throat, where she wore her pendant, to transform and fight him as Mew Ichigo.

The pendant was not there!

She grabbed again, and again, but her hand touched only Aoyama's bell, that she still wore. She desperately backed away while her hands searched her pockets, but all were empty. Without the pendant, she was helpless before him, and she turned to run. But with one leap, he was on her.

She could not transform, but she still had the wildcat in her, and she fought desperately: kicking, gouging, biting, clawing. He threw her to the ground and leaped upon her; he was so much bigger and stronger! He tried to pin her there, but she bit him on his long, alien left ear, and drew blood. He screeched, and pulled his head back, and as he lifted up, she kneed him in the groin. Then she clawed at his eyes, and as he screamed in pain, she broke free. She scrambled to her feet and started to run.

She knew she could not escape him, but she would never stop trying. She was sure he wanted to rape her. She took a few running steps toward the woods, and then she stopped.

Mint and Berry were coming out of the woods! She was saved!

"Minto! Berry! Kisshu's attacking me! Transform!" she shouted, as she fell into their arms.

"Really?" Mint said. And she took one of Ichigo's arms, and Berry the other. And they held her up.

"Hurry! Transform!" Ichigo shouted.

But the other two girls did not move. And suddenly Ichigo knew what was happening, and she wildly struggled to escape. But they held her tightly, each with a self-satisfied smirk on her face. And Kisshu came up, panting, his eyes wild, blood dripping from his wounded ear.

"You stinking little whore!" he muttered. Then he slammed his left fist into Ichigo's stomach, as hard as he could – which was very hard indeed. "That's for the bite on my ear, whore!" he sneered. Then the right fist, just as hard: "That's for gouging my eyes!" Ichigo's knees gave way, but the other two girls held her up. And Kisshu kneed her in the groin, as hard as he could. "And you know what that's for, you bitch!"

Ichiigo was in agony, but she still struggled to escape the two traitors, though very weakly now. She could not even look at them, but they heard her weak, failing voice: "Why?... Why?" But they gave no answer before Kisshu drew an instrument from his pocket and injected something into Ichigo's arm. Then the red-haired girl went limp, and they let her fall to the ground.

"That didn't go as planned," Kisshu said with some bitterness, stroking his wounded ear. The amber of his alien left eye was clouded with blood, also.

Mint shrugged. "You got what you wanted, didn't you? And you got her without any magic. Remember, if you used any magic, or if anyone transformed, Ryou's sensors would pick it up, and they'd know you were the one that took her. This way, nothing will show up. No one will ever know."

Berry looked at the fallen girl. "She isn't dead, is she?" she asked, with a bit of concern. She hated Ichigo, but she really didn't want to commit murder.

Kisshu smirked, in spite of his pain. "She's no good to me dead," he muttered. "But after that shot, she'll sleep for days. It's nasty stuff."

Then Mint said. "We should get this over with, before someone sees us. The car's just over that way, on the other side of that little woods." She pointed to the right.

"Are you sure no one will be able to track me?" Kisshu asked.

And Mint answered. "We checked Ryou's data. His sensors seem to have a range of about 250 kilometers' radius around the Café Mew Mew. If you left your space ship in orbit like you said, and if its stealth technology is good enough, and if you don't teleport up within that radius, no one will ever know."

Kisshu nodded and grunted, and he picked up the limp form of Mew Ichigo. They slipped away through the trees, and just a two-minute walk brought them to the road, and the Aizawa Mercedes – large and black. They threw Ichigo in the trunk, while Minto got behind the wheel and Kisshu got in on the passenger side. And Berry asked, "Minto, are you old enough to drive?"

Mint rolled her eyes. "When you're an Aizawa, things like that don't matter." And she started the car and drove away, heading for the freeway that led north from Tokyo. It would take several hours, but she made sure that she was 300 kilometers or more from Tokyo when she stopped and let the alien off, with his inert cargo. Then she managed to drive home, arriving before the dawn; and her parents never knew the car had been used.

Berry walked home from the park, humming contentedly to herself. It was not late when she got home, and her parents never suspected anything.

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  
**

It was late that night that Keiichiro got a call from Ichigo's parents. Their daughter had not come home! He and Ryou sent out the Mew Mews, and they searched the city; but they found nothing. Ichigo's parents in desperation called the police, but though they searched the entire city, they found no trace of the missing girl. And Shirogane Ryou sat in front of his computer for hour after hour, day after day; but he found not one trace of Ichigo, nor her pendant, nor any form of magical energy at all.

Momomiya Ichigo was gone. The police thought she was probably dead, but they never found her body. Her parents hoped it was a kidnapping, but no ransom demand ever arrived. Ryou suspected the aliens, but he contacted Pai, who assured him that they were still on their own planet.

It was as if she had dropped off the face of the earth. And as the days passed, hope faded. Ryou and Keiichiro carried on, but with no joy. Ichigo's parents mourned their daughter, and wondered if they dare try to have another; Ichigo's mother had had so much trouble giving birth to their first that the doctor had suggested that they have no more. But their lives were empty without Ichigo.

And Aoyama Masaya, who had been born just to protect Ichigo, and lived his life for her and no other, took a knife and pondered _seppuku_.


	7. The Memorial Service

**Chapter 7: The Memorial Service**

It was two months later, near the end of summer, when they all met at the Hikawa shrine. The Shinto shrine was at the top of a tall hill. It was old, and classic in its design. It seemed the best place for a memorial service for Ichigo.

For they had finally given up; they had to face the sad reality that Ichigo was dead. If she had been kidnapped, by that time they would have heard something. If she had run away from home, by that time she would have sent some word. She loved her parents, not to mention Aoyama, and would not hurt them so, to run away and not give them some word that she was all right. If she had been injured, and maybe lost her memory, she would have turned up, somewhere, somehow. But there had been not one word, not one sign of any kind. And so they knew: Ichigo was dead.

They were all there: Ichigo's parents, their eyes red from too many tears shed for too long. Her best friends from school were there: Moe and Miwa, silent and subdued, it seemed, for the first time in their lives. They had learned the hard way how short the "forever" of "best friends forever" could be. And all those from Café Mew Mew came. There were Keiichiro and Ryou, who bore a double burden, for they not only felt the pain of loss, but the pain of guilt: if they had not taken Ichigo as a Mew Mew, she surely would be alive still, a carefree teenager with no greater worries than her next date and next algebra test. And there were all the Mew Mews: Mint and Lettuce, Pudding and Zakuro, and Berry, each with her own thoughts and her own pain.

They lit candles in her memory, and then they spoke, saying nice things about her, as is done at such memorials. Her mother through her tears spoke of Ichigo's courage and strength from the very first day of her life, how the very-prematurely-born Ichigo had fought for life from her first breath, and had defeated death, that time; but her father could not speak, for his grief was too heavy. Then Miwa spoke, for herself and for Moe, about how Ichigo could always make them smile and laugh, even when no one else could. And then Keiichiro; and he spoke softly about Ichigo's kind foolishness, and her undying faithfulness to what she believed in and those she loved. But Ryou hung his head, burdened by guilt, and said nothing.

Then Zakuro spoke. Zakuro rarely showed emotions, and never shed tears. But this day, they flowed freely. And she told of how she had had such a sad, neglected childhood, and had learned to love and trust no one in this world, save herself; but then she had met the girls at Café Mew Mew, and they had taught her heart to love. Especially Ichigo; it was the red-haired girl who had taught her heart so much of what love was. Then her voice choked up, and she could say no more; and she wept in silence. And they all bowed their heads and wept with her; but Mint looked up, and her eyes were filled with anger. But none of the others noticed through their tears.

Pudding told them of how much fun Ichigo was, and Mint reminded them of courageous she was; though she could not speak of what Ichigo had done for the Mew Mews, with Ichigo's parents and school friends present. And Berry told them of how Ichigo had been the heart of all that happened at Café Mew Mew, and if she was lying, they did not notice. But Lettuce wept, and said nothing.

And finally Aoyama spoke, in a voice so choked that they could hardly hear. And he proclaimed his love for her, and swore that he could never love another, as long as he lived. And then he fell to his knees, and wept, and could say no more.

And then they were done; and each of them bowed to Ichigo's father, and embraced her mother, and then they walked away, each alone.

But Zakuro did not leave. She was not comfortable with this memorial service, nor with the Hikawa Shrine. She believed in One that the others did not believe in, and she closed her eyes and begged that that One would take Ichigo to himself, from wherever she lay. For she had not given up, as the others had. She had not given up on that One. And so she prayed long, on her knees, as the others walked down the hill, and scattered.

Finally Zakuro opened her eyes, and rose to leave. And then she saw that she was not alone. Far to her left, near the shrine itself, a dark-haired shrine maiden swept the path clean in silence. And nearby, to her right, Lettuce still stood at the head of the long flight of stairs that led down from the shrine. She was shaking, and crying. And Zakuro's heart filled with pity, and she forgot her own grief for a second, and walked over to the sobbing green-haired girl.

"Lettuce? Lettuce-chan?" she said softly, and the younger girl looked up slowly.

Lettuce's blue eyes met Zakuro's sapphire eyes, and searched them. And finding in those dark pools of mystery understanding and pity, Lettuce threw herself into Zakuro's arms. Her own arms embraced the tall, shapely form of the idol, and she pressed herself tightly against Zakuro's body, as if to burrow into it and hide from the world.

"There, there, dear Lettuce," Zakuro whispered. They all were heartbroken, but Zakuro was wondering why Lettuce seemed to handle it so much less well than the others. Lettuce did not answer at first, but just held ever more tightly. And then she whispered a question, and Zakuro was completely mystified by it. "Zakuro… is your word good?"

The older, taller girl looked into Lettuce's face with shock. What did that question mean? It was so insulting! Yet pity still ruled Zakuro's heart, and so she whispered back, "Lettuce, you have known me for more than two years. You know my word is good."

Lettuce stared at her in silence for a long while, trying to read the soul behind those dark eyes. Then she took a deep breath, and asked, "Zakuro, will you swear that you will never tell anyone what I'm going to tell you now?"

Zakuro had no clue as to what was going on. She feared, at least a little, that yet another of the younger Mews had developed a girl-crush on her! But pity still ruled her, and so she said, "I swear. Now Lettuce-chan, what do you want to tell me?"

And Lettuce took another deep breath, and then she took her eyes off those of the older girl and looked down before she spoke, in a gasping whisper: "Zakuro, I think... I think I might know what happened... to Ichigo."


	8. The Monster's Footprints

**Chapter 8: The Monster's Footprints**

Zakuro stopped breathing for a few seconds. Had she really heard what she thought she heard? She raised Lettuce's face and looked into her eyes, and she asked with slow and measured words: "Did you really say you know what happened to Ichigo?"

Lettuce was frightened and tried to back away; but Zakuro held her tightly. The younger girl's eyes were wild with fear.

"You do know!" Zakuro said; and her voice hissed. "You know and you won't tell us! You bastard!"

But Lettuce, her voice trembling, choked the words out weakly. "I said I _think_ I _might _know. I might have figured it out, but I don't know. If I knew, I'd tell."

"Well, why don't you tell what you do know?" the older girl demanded.

Lettuce managed to break away from the taller woman's grip, and she turned away; but she did not run. Instead, she spoke, still slowly, as if it hurt her to say the words. "I think the club had something to do with it."

"What do you mean, the club?" Zakuro asked harshly.

Lettuce's voice was very small, almost inaudible. "The Hate Ichigo Club."

"What did you say?" Zakuro nearly shouted, and she seized Lettuce's shoulder and turned her back toward herself.

Lettuce suddenly looked into Zakuro's eyes, and spoke with a low but clear voice. "I said, the Hate Ichigo Club."

"The what?" the dark-haired idol demanded angrily. "What the hell is the Hate Ichigo Club?"

Lettuce backed away, but she kept speaking. She was still afraid, but she would not run. Her hand reached for her pendant, and she touched it momentarily. It was there, if she needed it. She feared she was going to have to fight Zakuro. Then her words came: "The Hate Ichigo Club is for those that hate Ichigo. It's that simple."

Zakuro was beside herself with anger. She had never heard of such a club, and Ichigo had been so dear to her. "What is that club? How big is it? Who's in it?" She turned away slightly, trying to control her raging temper. And then she spun back to the younger girl. "And what the hell do they do?"

Lettuce took another step backward, and then stopped. She squared up her feet and her shoulders. She would run no more. "Who's in it? Mint, of course. And Berry." Then she took a step forward. "And me."

Zakuro's mouth dropped open. "Minto and Berry and… and you? You, sweet Lettuce? Why? In heaven's name, why do you hate Ichigo?"

Lettuce would be afraid no longer, and her words were no longer whispered. "I hated Ichigo because of Ryou. Berry hated her because she got all the credit Berry deserved. And Mint hated her because of… because of you, Zakuro. Because of you."

"Because of me?" Zakuro asked, not comprehending anything.

Lettuce now stepped up to the taller girl. She was not afraid, now. "I confessed to Ryou, you know. I confessed to him, and he all but laughed in my face. He said I was too much a kid, just a foolish kid who sews plushie toys. But there on his desk was a picture of that skank Ichigo! And his computer screen-saver is nothing but pictures of Ichigo – thousands of them! He said I'm too much a kid, but I'm as old as Ichigo. But he won't love me, because all he can think of is that little red-haired skank! And so I hated her! She already had a boyfriend, and then she was flirting with Ryou. All the time!"

Zakuro's voice lowered, the anger now gone from her words. "Ichigo flirts with the world, all the time. But you hate the wrong person. It was Ryou that rejected you. Why do you not hate him? Why hate Ichigo?"

"Don't you see?" Lettuce came back. "I love Ryou! But she ruined everything!"

Zakuro shook her head, and a tiny, twisted smile curled her lips. "So, the green monster strikes, even in the heart of perfect Lettuce."

"What do you mean?" the younger girl demanded.

Zakuro sighed, deep and audibly. "Envy. Jealousy. Envy's been called the green monster, or the green-eyed monster, at least since the days of Shakespeare. That's 500 years, Lettuce."

"I know who Shakespeare was," Lettuce muttered.

"And Berry's envious of the attention Ichigo gets," Zakuro went on. "But what about Minto? You said that Mint hated Ichigo because of me. What is that supposed to mean."

Lettuce mumbled something inaudibly, and then spoke in a low voice. "She said that Ichigo was messing with you, just like she was messing with Ryou."

"And Minto wanted me, just as you wanted Ryou. And so she was filled with envy and jealousy, just as you were," Zakuro said. "But I never saw her touch Ryou. And I can tell you, she never touched me – not that way. Never did, never tried."

"Who knows what she did with Ryou, when they were alone?" Lettuce objected.

But Zakuro simply said, "None of us ever saw her do anything with Ryou . And I know she did nothing with me. But whether she ever did any such messing around isn't important. You were driven by envy, and you hated her. So what did you do? Did you kill her?"

Lettuce gasped at the word, "kill." And her voice rose a little as she spoke. "I did nothing to her. I might have dreamed, fantasized nasty things, but I did nothing."

"But you said you thought that you might know what happened to her. Do you think she's dead?" Zakuro demanded.

Lettuce answered, "I don't know if she's dead. I do know that when I went to the club meeting at Mint's house, we all got drunk, and when you're drunk, you can say some dumb things. We drank a lot of champagne, and then some harder stuff. And then we spent a lot of time ripping on Ichigo. But finally Mint and Berry started talking about killing her, and that scared me, and so I left."

"So you think Minto and Berry killed her?" Zakuro's angry question came through clenched teeth.

Lettuce shook her head. "Do you really think Mint and Berry are murderers? I think they were drunk and saying stupid things. But besides talking about killing her, they talked a lot about that alien pervert, Kisshu. About the way he used to stalk her, and they said that it would have been so great if he had gotten her and taken her away. I think they really wanted that."

"So you think that Kisshu got her?" Zakuro asked.

Lettuce lowered her face and nodded slowly.

But the tall girl objected, "Ryou could find no evidence that any of the aliens have been here since they left. And the night Ichigo disappeared, there was no evidence of alien activity, and no evidence that Ichigo transformed. If Kisshu came after her, Ryou should have detected it, and Ichigo would have transformed and fought him."

"There's more evidence," Lettuce muttered. "Just give me time. Do you remember that Ryou told us that he could contact the aliens? But he never told us how. Well, do you remember that evening when we were all at the cafe but the guys were gone? That night we – that's Minto, Berry, and me – broke into Ryou's room. It wasn't locked. Then I helped those two hack into Ryou's computer. After that I got scared and left; but Mint and Berry stayed up there quite a while. If Ryou used his computer to contact the aliens, then maybe Mint and Berry contacted Kisshu and got him to come and grab Ichigo. Then he could have taken her back to Lovatron, or wherever he's from; and no evidence would be left behind. If his space ship was out of range of Ryou's sensors, and if he didn't teleport in or out, there would be no record that he was here."

"But Ichigo would have still fought him," Zakuro said. "She would have transformed."

Lettuce shook her head. "There's one more thing that you don't know. You weren't here the night Ichigo disappeared. Well, she had a big fight with Berry at the start of the evening, and later on Berry got at her by dumping a tray of ice cream sundaes all over her. Berry said it was an accident, that she stumbled, but I saw it, and it was clearly on purpose. Well, Ryou kept her from pounding Berry, and got her to go to the dressing room. And Mint went with her."

"So?" Zakuro said. "That doesn't prove Mint did anything."

"If Ichigo went and cleaned up – took a shower – then she had to undress. And while she was in the shower, Mint could have taken her pendant. Berry dumped the ice cream sundaes so that Ichigo would have to go to the shower, and then Mint could be alone with her stuff. Then Mint could steal the pendant, and Ichigo couldn't transform when she met Kisshu."

"And you know this is true?" Zakuro demanded.

Lettuce shook her head. "All that I _know _to be true are the things they said at the meeting of the club, and that we hacked into Ryou's computer. But that's what I think happened. It ties everything together: what happened at Mint's house when we got drunk, why Mint and Berry wanted to hack into Ryou's computer, and why Ichigo disappeared with no evidence of any magical stuff at all."

Zakuro's face was steadily reddening with anger, and she muttered through clenched teeth, "Unforgivable! All this because of some stupid envy and petty jealousy! If it is true, I will never forgive them!"

"But we will never know if it's true," Lettuce said. "Mint and Berry will never admit the truth."

Zakuro thought hard, and spoke slowly. "If Mint stole Ichigo's pendant, she probably still has it. That will be the proof that the story you told is true."

"But there isn't any way for us to find the pendant. I'm sure she doesn't keep it at the café. She probably destroyed it, or threw it away," Lettuce said.

"No," Zakuro responded. "If she threw it away – threw it in the garbage, or into the river, for example – well, those kinds of magical things have a way of getting themselves found. Always. It happens in all the stories. And if she even tried to destroy it, it would release a huge amount of energy, and Ryou's sensors would detect that. No, if she stole it, she's kept it. And I think I know how I might find out if she has."

She turned to the younger girl, and took her by the shoulders with her hands. She stared into Lettuce's blue eyes, and said slowly, "Thank you, dear Lettuce. You have given me hope, hope that Ichigo might still be alive. And you impress me with your powers of deduction, how you figured the whole thing out. But remember this: if I find that you had anything to do with Ichigo's disappearance, I will never forgive you. And you have no idea how horrible it will be for you to learn what my hatred means."

Lettuce simply said, "I do not lie to you, Mew Zakuro. But _you _remember _this:_ if you come after me, you will find that sweet Lettuce is far stronger than you have ever imagined. I will beat you."

"We will see, dear Lettuce-chan," Zakuro said. "We will see." And the two girls left the Hikawa shrine, walking side-by-side.


	9. A Fine Art, Best Done Slowly

**Chapter 9: A Fine Art, Best Done Slowly**

It was two nights later that Zakuro next worked at the Café Mew Mew. It was a slow evening, and the waitresses were spending quite a bit of time just standing around. Mint, of course, did little more than sit at a table, sip tea, and boss around the others. Her eyes were half-closed as she sipped her tea, but beneath her lowered lids her eyes followed Zakuro as she moved around the room. Zakuro, and only Zakuro. No one else noticed where her eyes were; but Zakuro did.

And Zakuro sighed; and she walked over to the table where Mint sat. Then she said, "I miss her."

Mint looked up, and her eyes opened wide. "Zakuro-san! You mean Ichigo." Her eyes dreamily examined her idol, and then she said, "Yes. We all miss her. But she's gone, I guess. I wish that some day we'd find out what happened." Then Mint rose and faced the taller girl. This was rare; it was indeed unheard of that Mint would rise up from her tea for anyone.

Zakuro paused before responding. "Minto, I…" She turned away, and then back toward the dark-haired heiress. "Minto, I'm lonely. I miss Ichigo. And I was wondering, just maybe…"

Mint's eyes were glowing. This was her greatest dream in all the world. Zakuro was asking her for a date! And Mint said, as the older girl paused: "Yes!"

Zakuro smiled slightly, and said, "I haven't asked yet."

But Mint just smiled in return, and whispered, "You don't have to be embarrassed to ask me. I'd love to spend some time with you!"

Zakuro's tongue seemed tied, but she managed to speak, though her voice was not clear. "Í suppose we could go to dinner somewhere, some evening." Mint just kept staring, and so Zakuro continued, in a low, half-whispered voice, "But really, now, all I want is somebody to spend some time with, to talk to…" She lowered her eyes, and finished, "Well, to talk to, and, you know…" Her voice trailed off.

Mint's entire body trembled with excitement. Zakuro wasn't only asking her out. She was propositioning her! How glorious life was, now that that ugly skank Ichigo was out of the way! She almost shouted aloud, and only caught herself at the last moment. Then she said, trying to suppress the excitement in her voice, "I'd love to be there for you, Zakuro-san, for you to have someone to talk to, and, you know…" She was so excited that she couldn't get the right words to say. But then she got more words out: "Hey, you could come to my place tonight. My parents are gone again, we could talk all alone…"

"I'm not really ready to go calling on someone," Zakuro responded. "I have to finish working here, and then – well, you know, change, and all…"

Mint just smiled. "It's a slow evening. They'll let you go now, I'm sure. It's not quite five-thirty. You could come about nine. How's about that?"

Zakuro smiled. "You are too eager, Minto-chan. These things are best done slowly. The pleasure of anticipation, and then getting everything right…"

Mint smiled in return. "I understand. But nine o'clock, OK?"

Zakuro smiled, and nodded, and said, "Nine o'clock. Your place." Then she turned and walked slowly away, heading for the kitchen, where she would undoubtedly ask Keiichiro for the rest of the evening off. Mint sighed, admiring the way her hips swayed as she walked away.

Mint forced herself to sit back in her chair. She took up her tea, but she was shaking so hard that she spilled it. In just three and a half hours, her lifetime dream would be fulfilled! Fujiwara Zakuro, the most perfect, desirable, beautiful, graceful, talented, sexy person in the world would be hers!

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

It was dark, and about ten minutes past nine, when Mint answered the front doorbell of her family's great mansion. As she had on the night of the meeting of the Hate Ichigo Club, she had dismissed the staff. She was all alone; she had the whole place to herself. And she had Zakuro to herself. She smiled as she opened the door.

Zakuro stood there. She wasn't dressed the way that she would dress when she came to the café. She wore a tight little half-top that showed the fullness of her bosom as well as baring her midriff. And her blue jeans were tight and cut very low on her slender but curvy hips. Her rich, dark hair fell loose upon her shoulders and down her back, and around her neck she wore a silver necklace with a diamond pendant . In her hands she carried a large bottle of what looked to be very expensive champagne.

Minto stood for several seconds with her mouth open. Zakuro's beauty she had admired ever since she had first seen her picture. But this was something different. Zakuro was so overtly, blatantly sexy that Mint could hardly control herself. She wanted to throw herself on Zakuro's body right then and there. But Zakuro said, "Ah, Minto… may I come in?"

"Yes! Yes! Of course!" Mint replied, and she took the older girl's arm and pulled her in.

Zakuro smiled, though her eyes rolled the slightest bit before she controlled them. Mint also was not wearing anything like her normal clothes, neither the everyday clothes she wore to the cafe, nor the excessively-frilly, demure dresses she normally wore on dress-up occasions. She had on an outfit of black lace. In the front, it was open to the navel, showing off her cleavage as best as could be done, though Mint had precious little there to show. The skirt fell to the floor, but was slashed open up both sides, completely baring both legs far up the thigh, almost to the hip. In the middle, the dress was held tight upon the top of her hips by a large metal clasp that extended around her body. Her eye makeup was too heavy, and around her neck she wore her Mew Mew pendant high, and a large and obviously very expensive sapphire pendant down low, nestling nearly between her small breasts. Zakuro wanted to laugh aloud. Mint had made herself look completely wanton, utterly easy. But of course, Zakuro thought, that was exactly what she was trying to be.

Mint wanted to take her down right there and then; Zakuro could see that. What a fool the little ballerina could be, who thought herself to be so sophisticated! Mint was crowding her body up close to Zakuro's, her wide eyes begging, her lips open to receive Zakuro's kiss. But that was nonsense! Zakuro spoke, quietly. "Minto, you seem to have forgotten, but I did say I wanted to talk." The tall beauty waited for the fire to die a bit in Mint's eyes, and then she continued, "Minto, my friend, seduction is a fine art! These things take time!"

Upon hearing that last line, Mint smiled again, and Zakuro said, "I think we'll need two glasses for this." She held up the bottle of champagne.

"Sure," Mint said, and she hurried off to get the glasses. She returned quickly with two glasses and a corkscrew, and they popped the bottle open and poured their first glass. Then Mint led the older girl up the stairs, and they sat in the same room where the Hate Ichigo Club had first begun to hatch their plots against the now-departed Ichigo.

Zakuro settled into her soft and very-expensive chair, and raised her glass to her lips. Her eyes watched Mint do the same, and then Zakuro said: "I do miss her."

Mint wanted to get on with their date. She did not want to waste precious moments talking about that stinking skank Ichigo. But if Zakuro insisted on taking things slowly, Mint would go along. After all, she had all night. And so she answered, with no emotion, "I think we all miss her. But why do you miss her so? You have such a wonderful life. You're famous as an actress, a model, an idol. Everybody worships the ground you walk on! And you make a ton of money and can do anything you want with your life. Anything with anybody! So why do you miss one high-school girl so much?"

Zakuro took another sip from her glass, and then stared at the bubbles rising in the champagne as she spoke. "Her spirit, her soul, whatever you call it. There was so much strength there, so much courage. I always had the feeling that if everyone else in the world gave up on me and left, I could still count on Ichigo. She'd still be there for me."

Mint shook her head. "I am sure that there were people who loved you a lot more than Ichigo did."

Zakuro smiled a sad little half-smile. "In my business, everyone talks about love, and no one loves. There's so little faithfulness, so little real caring. People's lives are as fake and phony as the movies we make. But Ichigo really loved. Look at the way she loved Aoyama!"

Mint's glass was empty, and Zakuro refilled it before Mint spoke again. "She wasn't faithful to that foolish boy. I know that for a fact."

Zakuro raised her eyebrows. "Really? That's sad. Her disappearance has so broken his heart that it's nearly killed him."

Mint frowned but said nothing, and so Zakuro asked suddenly, "Minto, my friend, why is it that you hated her so?"

Mint was completely taken aback. "That's a cruel question," she said. "You are right – I didn't like her much. But that's a private thing, between me and her…"

Zakuro stood suddenly. "I thought we were friends, Minto. I was honest with you and told my feeling for her. Why can't you be honest with me?" She watched the anger and disgust flash through the younger girl's eyes, and she thought: yes, it is as Lettuce said. She does think that Ichigo and I messed around together, and now she's angry because I say I'm being honest with her, when she thinks I'm not.

Mint squirmed. She couldn't simply start ripping into Ichigo as she would have liked; that would drive Zakuro away. But if she simply lied, Zakuro would know, and that might destroy everything, too. So she spoke quietly, carefully: "Well, she has had everything fall into her lap, but she didn't deserve it. She's just a common, vulgar, foolish girl, no better than Moe and Miwa and the rest of the fools at the school. But everyone dotes on her, and gives her everything!" Mint's voice began to rise, as she lost control of her emotions. "She was never good enough for you, Zakuro-san! There was nothing special about her! Nothing!"

Zakuro walked slowly over to Mint's chair and looked down at the young heiress. She reached down and fingered the huge sapphire pendant. "No, she's not special, I suppose. She has no sapphire pendants that are worth a fortune, no huge mansions, no private ballet lessons…"

"Zakuro, that's mean!" Mint objected. "What makes a girl special isn't what you have, it's what you are! Like you, Zakuro! You'd be special if you owned nothing! Ichigo – she'd be vulgar if she had everything!"

Zakuro took her bottle and again refilled Mint's glass before continuing, "Are you special, Minto? Or are you common – vulgar?"

"If you want me to be special, Zakuro, I will be! If you want me to be common, I will be that! Don't you understand?" Mint all but wailed.

Zakuro smiled sadly. "She would have never spoken as you did." Then she looked at Mint. "But she is gone. And you are here." Again she fingered the sapphire pendant that lay between Mint's breasts. "This is truly magnificent," she said. "And I think it matches my eyes. May I try it on, Minto?"

Mint's heart was racing. Everything was falling apart! She knew that this was her one chance to capture Zakuro's heart; and everything was going wrong. And so she said, "Of course, my friend. It would look far better on you than on me anyway."

Zakuro again smiled the sad smile. "I am not going to keep it, Minto. Just see what it looks like on me." Mint reached behind her head and opened the clasp with some difficulty – the champagne was starting to take its toll. Then she handed it to Zakuro, who closed the clasp behind her own neck. "How does it look on me?" she asked with a smile.

Mint answered quickly, "It looks divine. Here, there's a mirror in the bedroom, you can look at yourself…" Zakuro rolled her eyes a bit when Mint mentioned the bedroom, but she followed the younger girl in.

There was indeed a full-length mirror there – a very expensive one. And everything else in the room looked very expensive, too. It was not like the standard room of a girl Mint's age, and not only because the room was many times larger. The collection of plushie toys, the posters of singing idols or sports stars were missing. So were the dirty clothes on the floor. In this room everything was pristine – cleaned to perfection by a maid. The bed was huge and perfectly made, without a single wrinkle. The vanity table was trimmed with gold. The walls held not cheap posters, but works of art that were obviously original and expensive. Zakuro loved nice things, and this room was full of them. And Mint – or somebody – obviously had really good taste when it came to decoration. She stood in front of the mirror and admired the sapphire pendant. Mint was right: it looked magnificent on her.

Then she sat on the edge of the bed and removed the pendant. Mint gasped. She tried to hide it, but Zakuro noticed. Mint had gotten Zakuro to her bed. The older girl removed the pendant and offered it back to Mint. Then she said, "I love jewelry! Do you have more? You could model it for me!"

Mint smiled. Apparently they had left the ugly talk of Ichigo behind them, and she had found a way to Zakuro's heart. So she said, "Of course! It's all right here!" First, she lifted up a painting on the wall, and pushed several keys on a keypad – turning off an alarm system. Then she moved a lamp on the dresser aside, and pushed a button; and a hidden panel moved on the wall, revealing a safe.

Zakuro was impressed, and said so. "I suppose, when you have a collection of jewelry as valuable as yours, it has to be well-guarded."

Mint smiled broadly now, and she said, "Now don't look! I'll open the safe, but the combination's a secret." And in spite of the effects of the champagne, she twirled the dial, and the safe opened. She pulled out a drawer, and a whole pile of jewelry appeared: diamonds and rubies, pearls and opals, silver and gold and platinum. "Which should I try first?" Mint asked.

"We'll try them all," Zakuro said, "but first, I need another glass of champagne. What about you?"

"Sure," Mint said, her face glowing. She thought she had Zakuro just where she wanted her, and a little more alcohol would break down the last of her resistance.

Zakuro took the two glasses over to the vanity table, where she filled them. Then she turned back to Mint and offered her the glass. "This is the end of the champagne," Zakuro said. She raised her glass. "And so, I propose a toast. To us, and our friendship, and our…" She winked.

"To us!" Mint all but shouted; and the two girls drained their glasses.

Then Zakuro turned back to the safe and its glittering contents, talking quietly. It was less than a minute later when she heard a crash as Mint's glass shattered on the floor. Zakuro turned back, and caught the younger girl as she collapsed. She was dead weight as Zakuro dragged her to the bed and laid her upon it. As an actress she moved in circles where drug use was very common; Zakuro was a rare exception in that she wasn't a user. But she could get access to drugs of all kinds, and some of them were very nasty. And the one that she had dumped into Mint's champagne was very, very nasty.

Then she went to the safe again. There were probably tens of millions' of yen worth of jewels, but Zakuro did not care. She searched the drawer, then the rest of the safe, but she did not find what she looked for. In the end, she would have failed; but the year before she had acted in a film about some jewel thieves, and so she knew to reach in where the drawer had been removed. And up above the drawer's space, there was a catch hidden, and she turned that. A panel came down, and one more box. And in that box were some very precious things: some huge diamonds, an old photo of Mint and her brother when they were children – and, under a piece of velvet cloth, a Mew Mew pendant.

It was not Mint's; she was wearing her own. And it was real; it glowed when Zakuro put it next to her own pendant. It could be only one: Ichigo's.

So Lettuce had been right. Mint – and probably Berry, also – had betrayed Ichigo. Such anger surged through Zakuro that she wanted to go over to the bed and strangle Mint. But of course, that would not do. She had something more important to do. She had to try to find Ichigo, to save her. So she carefully replaced the hidden box, so Mint would not know that she had found it. Then she arranged Mint's body on the bed, laying her on her stomach with her head turned to the side, so if she vomited in her stupor, she would not choke on the vomit. She placed the empty bottle next to Mint's hand, so that if anyone found her, it would look as if she had simply gotten drunk and passed out. And she smiled grimly: she hoped that Mint's parents, or at least someone, would find her, and she would be grounded for at least ten years.

Then she smiled, and bent down, and kissed the unconscious girl on the cheek. And she said, quietly but aloud: "You little creep, that's the closest you'll ever come to getting a kiss from me." And then she left.


	10. Planning a Quest

**Chapter 10: Planning a Quest**

The following morning Zakuro hesitated outside the door of the Café Mew Mew. She went over everything in her head – all of the information, all of the plans, all of the objections she expected the two men to make. All was ready, she decided. She pushed on the door, and it opened, and she walked in, her stride showing all of the confidence in the world, all of the confidence she did not have.

Keiichiro looked up from a table he had been cleaning; Ryou was lounging against the wall, his arms crossed. He looked up slowly, with a bored look on his face. "Zakuro-san," he said in a low voice. "This had better be good. We have a lot of things to do, and we don't usually hang around the café at this hour of the morning."

Zakuro ignored his tone as well as his words. "Ryou. Keiichiro-san. Don't be so cold to me. I have information, important information, and I need to talk to you two alone. This is as good a place as any, isn't it?"

Keiichiro stopped cleaning the table. "It was your tone, Zakuro-san. Your words may have been fine, but your tone was very demanding. It was as if you were summoning us here. That is not your style. And so: what's going on?"

Zakuro took a seat at one of the tables, and gestured to the others that they should sit at the table as well. After a little hesitation, Keiichiro did so; and Ryou had no option except to do the same. Then the two men looked at her, Keiichiro with questioning eyes, Ryou with very demanding ones.

Without a word, Zakuro reached into her pocket and drew out an object, which she placed on the table. It was a Mew Mew pendant.

"So you're quitting?" Ryou said, in a hard tone. "Why?"

Zakuro opened the top button of her shirt, and showed that she was wearing her pendant under it.

The two men stared at the object in front of her on the table. Ryou asked, "Then what is that thing? Is it real, or a fake?"

"It's very real," Zakuro said. "It reacts to my pendant." She took it in her hand, and stood up. "I think it's Ichigo's."

Ryou leaped up from his chair. "Where did you get it? Did you find it?" His voice grew very loud and hard. "Or did you do something to Ichigo?"

Zakuro looked into Ryou's eyes. "Do not accuse me!" she said bitterly. Anger flashed in her dark eyes.

Keiichiro, still sitting, spoke quietly. "Zakuro, you have been acting very mysteriously. If we wonder what you're up to, or what your motives are, understand that you have invited our doubts." He looked at her with calm, and calming, eyes. "Now, please tell us. Where did you get the pendant?"

Zakuro looked at Keiichiro, and away from Ryou. "I got it from Mint. I took it from the safe in her bedroom, while Mint was passed out on her bed."

"And where did Mint get it?" Ryou demanded. He did not even ask why Mint was passed out on her bed.

Zakuro shrugged. "I think she stole it from Ichigo, the night that Ichigo disappeared." She sat back down. "I think Mint is a traitor. I fear Berry is one, too."

Ryou did not sit back down, but began pacing, and nearly raving. "What's going on here? Tell us!"

Zakuro sat back in the chair, still holding the pendant. "Lettuce was the one that figured things out," she said. "Lettuce, Berry, and Mint all have a big envy thing going against Ichigo. Lettuce crushes on you, Ryou - you know that – and she doesn't appreciate that you have this obsession with Ichigo."

"I don't have an obsession!" Ryou objected.

"Three thousand pictures of her in your screen saver pretty much adds up to an obsession," Zakuro said.

Ryou's eyes popped wide open. "How did you know that? You've been snooping my stuff?" he demanded angrily.

Zakuro shook her head. "Believe me, I'll get to that. But as I said, Lettuce has this big envy thing against Ichigo. I think we should all know that." The men said nothing, and the dark-haired girl continued, "And Berry is envious because she wants to be the star, and Ichigo gets all the attention."

Ryou snorted. "Next to Ichigo, Berry is as nothing. Ichigo is far more powerful and more brave."

Keiichiro added, "And Ichigo's a lot more real. There's a phoniness about Berry that keeps me from completely trusting her, the way we all trusted Ichigo."

Zakuro was taken aback by those last words. It was not like Keiichiro to speak in such judgmental terms about any of the girls. She looked at him for several seconds, and then went on. "And Mint, if you didn't know, has this thing for me." The men both looked at her with blank faces, and Zakuro was not surprised that they had not noticed. Men missed so many things! Then she continued, "Well, she thinks that I had something going with Ichigo. I didn't, but she was insanely jealous about that."

"So that's what was going on," Ryou muttered. "I could tell something was wrong, but I didn't know what." Zakuro was quite surprised that the man had noticed any problem at all.

"The three girls plotted against Ichigo," Zakuro continued. "That much I am sure of, because Lettuce told me, and she was part of it. After a while the other two closed Lettuce out of their plans, because Lettuce is too soft-hearted. But I do know that Lettuce helped them hack into your computer, Ryou." The man snorted again, but Zakuro just raised her eyebrows and then went on. "Your password, Ryou – _mewichigo7? _Now, please don't tell me there's no obsession." The man grunted and turned away for a second. Zakuro ignored him and kept speaking. "I think that they used your computer to contact Kisshu. Is that the way you contact the aliens, Shirogane? Through your computer?"

Ryou nodded. "It works very much like email. The signal is sent through a wormhole that the aliens use, so it only takes about half an hour to get a message through. Otherwise, it would take years."

"Then it all comes together," Zakuro said. "I've been saying that I am the one who thinks this, but it's Lettuce who figured it out. She knew that they hated Ichigo, and she knew they used your computer. She – and I – think that they contacted Kisshu, who still obsesses over Ichigo. Ah – see, Ryou, you're not the only one!" She smiled the tiniest bit before getting serious again, while Ryou turned away again, hiding his face. "They must have set a date for their move. On that evening Berry picked a fight with Ichigo, and then deliberately dumped a tray of desserts on her. When Ichigo went in to the dressing room to get cleaned up, Mint went with her. Now note how unlike Mint that is – she doesn't go out of her way to help anyone else, especially someone that's hurting. Anyway, we believe when Ichigo went into the shower, Mint used that opportunity to steal her pendant, and, I'm thinking, her Masha. On the way home, she was attacked by Kisshu, and she couldn't transform. Kisshu kidnapped her and took her back to Lovatron, or whatever they call their planet."

"What the hell's Lovatron?" Ryou objected.

But Keiichiro had a more serious objection. "There was no sensor evidence of any alien activity. And when we contacted the aliens, they said they hadn't been here."

"Which alien did you deal with?" Zakuro asked.

"Pai," Ryou said. "Did you think we'd deal with that flake Kisshu?"

"I would guess that if this scenario is true, Pai had no clue about it," Keiichiro said. "It's stupid and irrational. To risk everything – even war – to get Ichigo? That's completely unlike Pai."

"But it's everything like Kisshu," Zakuro said. "And as to why there was no sensor evidence, I think that was the plan. We figure that Kisshu landed somewhere outside of the range of our sensors. They do have a limited range, don't they?"

"Maybe 200 to 250 kilometers," Ryou said.

"Yes, that makes sense," the dark-haired girl said. "So Kisshu lands out of range. The traitors know that Ichigo goes home by the same route every day – through that park. They arrange it so that Ichigo goes home early and alone, and they make sure that she doesn't have her pendant or her robot. Then Kisshu attacks her and overpowers her physically, maybe knocks her out or drugs her. He takes her back to his space ship and flies back to Lovatron with his prize. And there's no evidence of any magic or alien energy for your sensors, and no body or physical evidence for the police to find."

"Then you're saying you believe Ichigo's alive," Keiichiro said.

"Yes," Zakuro responded. "Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part. But the whole story makes sense. On the one hand, Mint did have Ichigo's pendant." She held it up. "And on the other, I don't think that Mint and Berry have it in them to murder Ichigo and hide the body. They have to be guilty of something, or Mint would not have had the pendant in her safe. She had it, and she hid it from us. That means that she's guilty of something. If she had just found the pendant, she would have told us. So she's guilty. Lettuce says that Mint and Berry talked a lot about how they wished that Kisshu had taken Ichigo away, back to his planet. I think they made sure that happened."

"But if Ichigo is alive, she's off on Lovatron – like that name! – with Kisshu." Keiichiro said. "But that's light-years away. We'll never be able to get her back – unless we can get there somehow. We need to get the aliens to bring her back, or to bring us to their planet."

"That's where the plan gets hard," Zakuro said sadly. "How could we get them to take us there?"

Ryou had been standing a distance away, with his back to the others. They both knew: he was furious over what Kisshu and the two traitors had done to the girl he did "not" obsess over. But then he turned back suddenly. "Mew Aqua," he said. "They would do anything for more of it. Anything. Their whole planet and all of their lives depend on it."

Keiichro said, "Yes, we have some. We've been finding little fragments every now and again. But the stuff is precious. I wonder if we'd have to give them all of it."

Zakuro exploded. "Do you mean to tell me that you'd keep that damned stuff and let Ichigo rot on that damned alien planet?"

Keiichiro was silent for several seconds, calming the angry girl with his eyes. "No, Zakuro. But I really don't think we need to use it all. Maybe a quarter of what we've found, at most, would be so helpful to them that they'd give us a ride to er, ah, Lovatron in exchange for it. And let us bring Ichigo back, if she's there."

Ryou nodded. And then he said, "The real question is, just who should go? We can't all go – it will look like an invasion."

"I will go," Zakuro said. "And that's NOT debatable. That's why I'm keeping my hands on this pendant."

Keiichiro looked doubtful; but Ryou nodded. "And I will go."

Zakuro shook her head. "Given your obsession with Ichigo, there's too big a chance that you'll fly off the handle and make a mess of everything."

Ryou crossed his arms. "No debate," he said. "I'm the head of the Mew Project. And besides, I have the Mew Aqua fragments – all of them except for that one little fragment that you kept, Zakuro." She raised her eyebrows, and Ryou smiled a bit. "You forget, my sensors – they pick up Mew Aqua above all else. You probably have that fragment on you now. You usually do."

Zakuro sat silently for several seconds. She had thought her Mew Aqua fragment was a secret. Then she said, "I'm sure that you want to come, too, Keiichiro. But someone has to hold down the fort here. Or else we'll have to shut down the café for a month or more."

"I would do far better than either of you if negotiation with the aliens is required," the dark-haired man said pensively. "But you are right. Someone has to keep things going here, and not just for a month. I hate to say it, but if you try this, there's a really good chance that you won't come back alive. Someone has to make sure that the Mew Project continues. I guess that must be me." He hung his head.

For almost a minute there was silence, and then Zakuro spoke slowly. "There is one more that must go."

"Who's that?" Ryou asked. "If you want backup, I suppose it would be Lettuce. If Mint and Berry are traitors, we can't let them in on this. And Pudding is far too young."

"Lettuce would love to go, I am sure," Zakuro said. "But I am just as sure that her parents would not allow it, and Lettuce in the end would obey them. But it will torture her not to go. She feels a whole boatload of guilt over this whole thing. She really isn't a traitor, but she was a part of the whole plot that hurt Ichigo – maybe killed her. Remember, we don't know if she's alive."

"We could find out for sure," Ryou said with gritted teeth. "We could get the truth out of those two traitors."

"Torture?" Keiichiro said. "No. And besides, that would be the end of the Mew Project."

"It's probably the end of the Mew Project anyway," Ryou said sadly.

But Zakuro shook her head. "As long as you have Ichigo, you can afford to lose Berry and that creep Mint." She stood up from the table. "The one that has to go is Aoyama. He might just be in the way, and we might get him killed. But if we go to save his Ichigo, and leave him behind, it will destroy him. He loves her, worships her, but it goes beyond that. He was born to be her protector."

"We just won't tell him," Ryou said with somewhat of a sneer. The girls weren't the only ones around the Café Mew Mew capable of envy and jealousy.

"Then if we come back with Ichigo, instead of bringing joy, we will bring misery," Zakuro said. "He would not be able to live with the shame that someone else went to save his beloved, and he did not go. No. He goes, unless he can't. And be sure: he will go. He would give up everything else, including his own life, in an effort to save Ichigo."

"Then I'll contact the aliens right now," Ryou said. "Not Kisshu – if he has Ichigo, he'd hide her. I'll call Pai and offer him the Mew Aqua fragment. We'll see how quickly they can come. And we'll be ready when they do."

Keiichiro nodded. "We have to hide this from the rest of the girls. Keep it a secret! The traitors must never know."

And to that Zakuro nodded, and said, "If we do find Ichigo alive and bring her back, I want to be there when she meets that filthy traitor Mint." She did not even mention Berry. Then she turned to leave, and said, "I'll contact Aoyama. And he'll keep our secret." Then she walked to the door and left the building.


	11. Meeting in the Night

**Chapter 11: Meeting in the Night**

The skies were lowering and the wind was beginning to increase from the northeast, and the little speedboat began to pitch more heavily in the rising waves. It was not wise, perhaps, to take a small speedboat two hundred kilometers out on the ocean in the dark of night, with the weather forecast deteriorating. But they all had agreed that taking a boat out on the ocean was the best way to make sure that no one would see the aliens' space ship. As long as the aliens' stealth technology kept them off of radar screens, getting far out on the ocean seemed the best way to keep the aliens from being discovered. It was not hard for the aliens, of course, to come and go as they pleased, because they could teleport in and out of their alternate dimension. But the earthlings could not do that. And so they waited on their boat, far out to sea and away from prying eyes: Ryou, Keiichiro, Zakuro, and Aoyama.

Keiichiro had the wheel, and he turned from it and spoke to Ryou, who was staring into his computer screen. "No sign of them yet?"

Ryou shook his head. "No. But they'll be coming. Be sure of that. When I mentioned Mew Aqua to them, they were crazy to get it. It takes them a week at least to get here, and it's only nine days since we contacted them. They were coming absolutely as fast as they can. They're desperate for the stuff."

Zakuro was alone in the back of the boat, staring into the darkness. "Maybe they're even now attacking Café Mew Mew, knowing that we're out here."

"No, Zakuro," Keiichiro said. "I know you don't trust them, but think: they have nothing to gain by attacking the café. It's closed tonight, so they won't even be able to attack the other Mew Mews by going there. About all they could accomplish by raiding the café tonight is stealing a few leftover strawberry shortcakes." He smiled.

"The Mew Aqua's with us out here," Ryou said. "They will come."

Then they grew silent, and only sounds were the rush of the wind, the growl of the boat's idling motor, and the slap of water against the boat's side. But suddenly Ryou said: "They're here. They popped in right overhead, and they're coming down fast." The others looked up into the darkness, but all they could see was the lowering clouds.

And then, suddenly, the ship appeared, descending through the bottom of the cloud layer. The aliens had been very precise in their navigation, to be sure. Zakuro transformed, just in case. In just a couple of minutes the ship was hovering over them, and then, suddenly, the air shimmered and Pai teleported into the boat.

Ryou faced up to him. "Greetings," he said, and bowed. He was being very formal.

"Greetings," the alien responded. And then he got right to the point. "Where is the Mew Aqua?"

Ryou reached into his pocket and drew out a small glass vial. A hard light glowed within it. The alien drew out a small vial of his own, and held it up to Ryou's; and it glowed brightly.

The alien studied his vial for a few seconds, and then said, "Mew Aqua it is. We should have guessed that you would find more after we left."

"True enough," Ryou said. "If you want it, you know the deal. You have to take us to your planet."

Pai nodded. "We will, human. We need all the Mew Aqua we can get. Things are so much better now on our planet since we got the Mew Aqua. But there is so much more to do." Then he crossed his arms, and said, "But we need to know the whole truth. What do you want on our planet? I am sure you are not giving this to us out of the goodness of your hearts. You want something in return. What is it? I need to know."

Zakuro said, quietly: "I think you might fail to appreciate the goodness of our hearts. But we seek Kisshu. Is he along with you?"

Pai shook his head. "Kisshu? What do you want with him?"

"That is our business," Ryou said. "But the lady asked if he was along."

Pai scowled. "No, he's not along. We don't see him much any more."

"Why not?" Zakuro asked. Clearly Pai was bitter about something, and she moved up in the boat and got right into Pai's face.

Pai hesitated. Clearly the alien was sorting out in his mind just what should be said. Then his words came slowly and carefully. "Kisshu was very frustrating to deal with, but he was our friend. But after we got back to our planet with the Mew Aqua, things changed. We three – Kisshu, Taruto, and myself – became big stars. We had brought back the Mew Aqua. We were the Three Heroes, the saviors of our people. With the Mew Aqua we could change the climate of our planet and move out of the caves. We could raise enough food. We could build real homes."

He turned away from Zakuro and faced the others. "The first people who got real homes were the Three Heroes. Taruto and I moved into one, but Kisshu insisted that he have his own. And everyone's attitude was, 'nothing is too good for the heroes,' so they built him a magnificent house. They built for him, they praised him, they glorified him, they gave him whatever he wanted. And suddenly, he didn't hang around much with us any more. He took to just wandering around and getting attention from all of his fangirls. All the young girls seem crazy about him, and he must have thousands of them after him."

Just them the air shimmered, and Taruto popped in. He smiled wickedly. "Ah, Pai," he said, "you got a girl, too."

Pai's voice was harsh. "Taruto, I told you to stay on the ship. And she's a woman, not a girl, and there's only one of her."

"Pai's in love," Taruto giggled.

Oddly, the older alien smiled – something he almost never did. "It is nice, you know, to be… _somebody. _All of my life I have been 'not good enough.' Now we're the great heroes, and finally, someone considered me good enough. Somebody precious to me."

"Pai's going to get married," Taruto giggled on. "He's in love."

Again a smile twisted Pai's mouth – a most unnatural thing. "I hope so," he said. Then suddenly the smile left him, and he was all business again. "But Kisshu. Why do you want to see Kisshu? I need to know this, or the deal's off."

It was Zakuro who spoke. "Do you remember Mew Ichigo?"

"Of course," the alien said. "The one that destroyed Deep Blue, and saved your world – and freed ours."

Zakuro went on, "Two months or so ago, Ichigo disappeared – without a trace. She's never come back. And we think, given what little evidence we have, that she might have been kidnapped." She got right in the alien's face again. "Kidnapped – by Kisshu."

Anger raged in the alien's eyes, though those eyes were normally hard for humans to read. "That is a vile accusation, wolf-woman."

Then Aoyama spoke for the first time. "You said that you don't see much of Kisshu any more. Is it possible that he came to Earth and took her? Does he have access to a space ship? Did he have the time? Would you know if he did?"

Taruto drew out his click-clack ball weapon, but Pai raised his hand and spoke sharply. "No, Taruto! We don't need another war with these people!"

"I won't let them say such evil things about Kisshu!" the child alien objected.

But the adult alien answered him, "The boy didn't accuse him of anything, Taruto. He just asked questions, not like the wolf-girl. And I will answer them. First, he has access to a space ship, or anything else. We are the Three Heroes, and they give us anything that we want. And it is just like that undisciplined Kisshu to abuse that honor and get his hands on a space ship." He scowled at Taruto, and went on. "Second, he had the time. It is many weeks since I last saw him. Two months ago – I am sure there was more than enough time back then for him to do what you say." He turned fully to Aoyama. "He was obsessed with that human girl, that is for sure. And he knew I did not approve. He could have any girl of our own people – he just about has every girl of our people, if you take my meaning. So if he did what you suspect, I would guess that he might keep it from us. But knowing Kisshu, sooner or later it would come out. He loves to boast, you know."

Ryou spoke up. "Then if you want the Mew Aqua, take us in your ship, and let us find Kisshu on your planet. It won't take us long to find out if Ichigo is there. He would have to keep her hidden – she would stand out to everyone on your planet as someone alien to you. The eyes, the ears…"

Suddenly Taruto said, "If she was up on our world, then we would know because when she transformed into the cat girl, Pai's sensors would pick that up."

But Ryou shook his head. "When she disappeared, she didn't have her Mew Mew pendant. She needs that to transform."

Pai raised his hand for silence, and thought hard for a while. And then he said, "We need the Mew Aqua, and so we agree to take you to our world, and then back. But there is one condition."

"And what is that?" Zakuro demanded.

Pai looked down, sighed deeply, and then looked the wolf-girl right in the eyes. "Kisshu is very troublesome, and immature, and vain, and selfish," he said. "But he is one of the Three Heroes of our people. And… he is our friend. So we will take you only if you swear, by all that you believe in, that if he has indeed done what you fear, you do not kill him, or permanently maim him."

"What if he tries to kill _us?_" Ryou asked, with some bitterness.

Pai shook his head. "Either you swear, or we leave you here. I suppose we could sink this pathetic little vessel, take the Mew Aqua, and leave what is left of you for the sharks. But we are supposed to be at peace, now. So if you do not swear, we will just leave, and you never will know if Kisshu has caught your friend or not."

It was Aoyama who spoke first. "I swear, by all I believe in, that I will not kill Kisshu, or maim him permanently."

Zakuro looked at him and spoke in a low voice. "If Kisshu has Ichigo, he will fight to keep her."

But Aoyama said, "It is our only hope to save Ichigo, if Kisshu took her."

And so Zakuro said, "I swear the same, by all I believe in."

And Ryou mumbled, with fire in his eyes, "And I swear – the same."

Finally, Keiichiro said, "I am not going – I'll be bringing the boat back to shore. But I'll swear, too, if that's what you want."

But Pai shook his head. "Not necessary," he said. Then he turned to Taruto. "If Kisshu has done this, he has broken our law. If he were anyone but one of the Three Heroes, he would be in big trouble – again. And I do not want fighting to start again with the humans. But we need the Mew Aqua. So what do you think?"

Taruto's mouth dropped open for several seconds. And then he said, amazed: "I think that's the first time you ever asked for my advice." He smiled. "Take them," he said. "We must have more Mew Aqua. And if they make trouble on our planet, we'll take care of them, easy!"

Pai shook his head. "You should have learned by now, Taruto: it is never easy with these humans. They seem primitive, but the power of their spirits is great."

He turned to Aoyama. "You are the one who became the Blue Knight, and Deep Blue. Deep Blue is destroyed, dead. Can you still become the Blue Knight? The Blue Knight was Kisshu's greatest enemy, the one he hated the most."

Aoyama shrugged. "I don't know. I never could transform into the Blue Knight unless Ichigo was in danger. I can't just transform by choice, like the Mew Mews can." He sighed deeply and finished, "But whether I transform or not, I am bound by my oath."

And Pai nodded, and said, "So be it." He looked up at the ship. "When the air shimmers, you might try just stepping in after me, and hopefully you could be transported to the ship. But I think it would be safer if we drop a ladder to you." Ryou, Zakuro, and Aoyama gathered up the things they needed, and then Pai and Taruto stepped into the shimmering air of their teleportation spell. A minute later the space ship came down very low, and a rope ladder fell down to the boat. And Ryou, Zakuro, and Aoyama climbed the ladder, and disappeared.

Keiichiro was left alone on the boat, watching the space ship above him rise into the dark clouds and disappear. He wondered if he would ever see any of them again. Then he advanced the throttles and headed the boat back toward the shore through the rising waves.


	12. Fears and Choices

**Chapter 12: Fears and Choices**

Zakuro sat and stared through the vision port of the spaceship. Outside nothing could be seen – no light, no stars, and really, no darkness. As they sped down the wormhole, all seemed to be shapeless gray – a shapeless gray that somehow seemed to have vague shapes in it. On the other side of the cramped compartment, Aoyama Masaya sat alone, staring at the floor. Or was it the ceiling? Everything was weightless, and there was no up, no down.

At what must have been the front of the compartment, Pai sat and stared at his instruments. He has told them that it had been many years since one of the aliens' ships had entered a wormhole and never came out the other side. Yet he was concerned, and watched his computer and displays carefully. Of course, Pai always acted concerned, and most likely there was no problem. But the silent Pai was not about to tell them if there were.

Zakuro sighed. As the days of the journey passed, she had become more and more uneasy. Aoyama was sunk within himself, unable to think about anything except Ichigo. And Ryou as usual was so self-absorbed that he noticed the others not at all. But someone did notice; and oddly, it was the child alien that approached Zakuro.

Taruto sat himself directly in front of Zakuro in silence, staring at the wolf-girl. Zakuro looked into his eyes in silence also; and then the alien spoke quietly. "What's wrong?"

Zakuro half-smiled. It was odd that of all the people on the ship, it was the child that had noticed her unease. She thought for a few seconds, and then, apparently, decided that the child was harmless. "I'm worried. And we all should be."

The child alien cocked his head to the right, and asked, "Why be worried? Pai knows what he's doing."

"Well, you've done space travel before. We haven't." Zakuro's words were said with another half-smile. Then the smile disappeared. "But that's not what I'm thinking of. You have to know what might happen, if Kisshu really did kidnap Ichigo. If we find her on your planet, there will probably be a fight. Kisshu won't let go of her, and we won't let him have her."

Taruto smiled broadly. "That'll be fun! And – we'll kick your butts!"

Zakuro just shook her head, and then stared at the floor. "It won't be fun, if some of us end up dead." She watched the smile fade from the child alien's face, and then she went on, "But that's not the worst, not really. I'm worried about something else." She turned away from the alien and started out the window. "I'm afraid – what if Ichigo is there, but by choice? What if it wasn't a kidnapping, but instead, they eloped together? What if Ichigo chose Kisshu and rejected all the rest of us – her parents, her friends, her boyfriend, her people, her world?"

"No," Aoyama suddenly said from the seat against the far wall. Obviously, he had been listening to Zakuro's sad musings. "If she went on her own, then Mint would not have gotten her pendant."

Zakuro slowly shook her head. "Maybe. But she could have given the pendant to Mint, or even Berry, as part of leaving her old life behind. Remember, we haven't yet heard Mint's version of the story. And it would make a lot of sense for Kisshu to ask her to leave the pendant behind."

"Why?" the child alien asked.

Zakuro turned back and looked into the alien's eyes, staring into narrow-slit pupils. "Because Kisshu likes to be in charge, and if Ichigo has her pendant, no one can rule her. Her spirit is far too strong, and far too free."

Taruto looked away. This conversation was clearly beyond him. But Aoyama said, "She did not choose to go with him. She loves her parents. She loves her friends. She loves… me." He said the last words with total conviction.

But Zakuro was older, and she knew the power of passion, the strength of desire. And she shook her head slowly, and lapsed into silence. She stared out the vision port, while the formless gray of the wormhole that hid so many forms went streaming by.


	13. Kittens and Toys

**Chapter 13: Kittens and Toys**

They slowly stepped down the landing stairs from the ship and stared out over the strange world: Shirogane Ryou, Aoyama Masaya, and Fujiwara Zakuro. Zakuro had already transformed into her Mew Mew form; they were ready for anything.

They looked around in wonder. The sky seemed pale, the sun wan, the colors pastel at best, muted at worst. Even the gravity was less than Earth's; they could feel their own weight less upon their feet. This world of the aliens, this Lovatron as they jokingly called it, seemed a pale shadow of Earth.

And in many ways, it was. The sun seemed smaller and weaker, because although their sun was about the same size as Earth's, the planet was farther from it. The planet was smaller than Earth, so things weighed less. And the pale light from the distant sun cast everything in a softer light.

But at the same time, all around them was feverish activity. They had of course landed near a city: the main city of the aliens, according to Pai. The population of the aliens was small, for they had been unable to properly feed themselves for years due to the cold and bitter climate of this planet. The summers were short and inconsistent, while the winters were long and indescribably bitter. But now, with Mew Aqua, the aliens had begun to change the climate of their world, and the air was cool but pleasant. And in that cool and pleasant air, the aliens were building a true city. They had left the dark caves behind.

All around buildings were rising: not skyscrapers yet, for the aliens had not yet established the heavy industry needed for massive buildings of that nature. But small, neat dwellings were springing up everywhere, and some larger buildings to serve as factories and offices and schools and all of the things needed for an advanced culture.

And it was all so _alien_. As on Earth, there were machines to help with the building. But here, much of the heavy work was being done by chimera animas! Apparently, what few living animals lived on this world must have been somewhat reptilian, though they had multiple legs; for many of the chimera animas looked vaguely like six- or eight-legged reptiles. They were colored mainly gray and green, with few bright colors. But they were large, and they worked tirelessly, powered by the magic spirits within them.

Pai and Taruto came down the steps after them, and Pai gestured proudly all around. "This is our world! And with Mew Aqua, we will make of it the finest planet in all the galaxy. Breathe the air – it's unpolluted. And, like I said, it is much like Earth's, though thin. You will have no trouble breathing it."

Then Pai pointed to a range of mountains in the distance. "Do you see those? They are, by your measurement, about 100 kilometers away. On this side of the mountains, we can live, grow food, and build. On the far side, all is half-frozen wilderness. That is how far the Mew Aqua's power has made our world livable." He turned away from the far mountains and spoke to the three humans. "With more Mew Aqua, we can expand the livable lands that much farther. That is why we need it, all of it that we can get."

Shirogane Ryou crossed his arms and spread his feet, facing the alien. "And you will have it, when we have met with Kisshu, and have either found Mew Ichigo, or convinced ourselves that she is not here."

Pai scowled. "Do not make it too hard. We have the power to simply destroy you and take it, if we choose. You cannot leave this planet without me. And the people on your world have no way to come to your rescue."

Ryou just shook his head. "We have come for Ichigo, and you know that was the deal. Just take us to Kisshu, and this whole thing can be over quickly, and you can have your precious Mew Aqua. And remember: if you destroy us here, you will have no way of even dreaming of ever getting more."

"Harumph!" Pai snorted. "Who knows where that irresponsible Kisshu is? Off galavanting around with some fangirls, I suppose." Then he turned to the child alien. "Taruto, take the boy and the wolf-girl over to Kisshu's house. If he's not home, sooner or later he'll have to show up."

"Hey, wait!' Ryou objected. "I'm going, too."

Pai shook his head. "You have the Mew Aqua, so you are the necessary hostage. There is no way I will let you leave here. Taruto can take the other two to find Kisshu, and you will stay. And if those two make any trouble, you will die here, and the Mew Aqua will be ours."

"Bastard!" Ryou barked; but the alien ignored him. He turned to the others, and said, "The faster you start, the faster this will be over. We have an eight-day journey back, once we leave, and I want to get this over with and get on with using the Mew Aqua."

"And get back to spending time with Kolache!" Taruto giggled. "His girl."

The adult alien, oddly, did not complain about the child's impertinent comment. "Just get going, Taruto. And keep those two Earthlings in line. And remember that they don't speak our language, and you will have to translate if anyone speaks to them. Keep them out of trouble!"

Taruto smiled and nodded, and started off, with the two humans following. "Kisshu's house isn't too far from here," he said. "Our city isn't large, nothing like Tokyo. We should get there in less than an hour." Aoyama and Zakuro started off, nervous and alert. It was far more frightening to them than they would have admitted; but it was the only way they could find out about Ichigo. They followed a dirt road toward the edge of town. Here and there they saw some paving being done on the new roads, but his one was still dirt. Everywhere aliens looked at them with wonder in their eyes. Just what were these strange creatures? And if anything, Zakuro gained less stares than Aoyama, her wolf ears and tail notwithstanding, for her Mew Zakuro outfit, with its shorts and bare midriff, was shaped very much like the clothing the aliens wore, while Aoyama's shirt and pants seemed totally weird to them. But no one tried to stop them; they were, perhaps, too busy with their own projects to worry about two strange creatures that followed a child up the road.

And indeed, it was in just under and hour that they saw on a low hill before them a house far grander than any others they had seen. And Taruto said, "That's Kisshu's place." It was long and low, with just one story. It was not grand when compared to a true mansion back home, like the Aizawa mansion, for example. But it would have been a fine home even on Earth, and the other dwellings being built all around them were little more than huts when compared to it. It had been built for Kisshu, one of the Three Heroes, and in the eyes of the people, nothing was too good for him. It was built of stone; there was not much wood to build with on the cold and barren planet. And so it looked even more massive and imposing than it might have otherwise. The design was simple, massive, and undecorated – very un-Japanese.

But clearly Taruto was unimpressed by either its size or appearance. There was a bit of unfinished construction in front, a sort of raised platform, and the child alien pointed to it: "It's for a statue, and the statue isn't finished," he said. "It was supposed to be a statue of the Three Heroes, but now they say that it's just going to be a statue of Kisshu." He giggled. "On Earth, the birds would dump all over it!" Then a wicked smile split his lips. "You know, we need some birds on this world…" And they all laughed.

Zakuro smiled. The child was doing a wonderful job as their guide, keeping the tension down with his silly chatter. But that would all change now. They approached the front door of the house, and suddenly, they were all silent. If Kisshu were here, they would find out about Ichigo. And maybe there would be a fight. And if they fought, the people might all go berserk over an attack on one of their precious heroes, and she and her companions would be killed… She took a deep breath, let it out, and approached the door behind Taruto. She saw Aoyama beside her; he was incredibly nervous, but did not seem afraid. He mind was filled with nothing except the possibility that he might find Ichigo.

Taruto knocked on the door; there was no doorbell or any alien equivalent. They waited long, and then knocked again; but there was no answer. Taruto turned away. "Well, he's not here, so I guess we'll just wait," he said.

Aoyama tried the door; it was locked, though they could see no keyhole. Then Zakuro, in her transformed state, recognized the faintest glow around the door handle; an unmagical person would see nothing. The door was magically locked. She stared at the lock for a second, while the other two walked back to the unfinished statue platform to find a place to sit.

And then suddenly Zakuro chanted, "Ribbon: Zakuro Spear!"

"No!" shouted the alien, but it was too late. Zakuro's cross spawned its deadly whip, and she danced through the air as she swung it, and it crashed upon the door handle. There was a flash, and the door opened. And Zakuro walked in, with the other two hurrying to catch up. "You'll get us all into trouble!" Taruto shouted. But he followed along.

The house was quiet. Quiet, and dirty: the home of a teen-aged male living alone. There were some crusts of some food uneaten on a plate on a table, and several articles of clothing scatted here and there on various chairs, and on the floor. There was a bedroom with an unmade bed, and a kitchen that, oddly, was quite clean, especially considering how filthy the rest of the house was. But clearly Kisshu was not home.

And then, in the back, at then end of a dark and dingy hallway, there was another magically-locked door, one with a barred window in it. And even Taruto knew that it was useless for him to object as Zakuro's whip lashed out, and the door opened.

The room was dingy but not totally dark; pale light came in through two high, barred windows. At least they seemed barred; the dividers between the small panes seemed unnecessarily massive. The room was quite barren, though there was a small cot against the left-hand wall, and over on the right, a small screen that seemed to be made of paper, or its alien equivalent. The screen was so flimsy that it was translucent. And they could see, and hear: someone was behind that screen.

"Go away!" the voice moaned – in Japanese! And they knew what they had found. Taruto tried stepping forward, but Zakuro stopped him with a hand on his shoulder, and silenced him with a finger to her lips.

"Please, Kisshu, not today, please!" the voice begged painfully. "Not again! Please, not again!"

Zakuro bent over and whispered very quietly into Masaya's ear, "This is your moment. Go!" And he nodded, and stepped fully into the room.

"Please! Go away!" the voice kept moaning. The figure kept trying to hide behind the flimsy screen.

And then Masaya said, "Ichigo."

But the voice kept moaning, "Go away! Please, not today! Not again! Please!"

And Masaya raised his voice, and said clearly, "Ichigo!"

Behind the screen, the moaning stopped, and there was silence, until Aoyama called a third time, quietly: "Ichigo."

Then the figure behind the screen moved, ever so slowly; and a sad and pale face peeked out around the corner of the flimsy screen that had been the only concession to her privacy. Red hair appeared, and violet-gray eyes. And then she stepped out. It was Ichigo.

Her red hair fell in tangled strings. Her earth clothes were gone, replaced by alien garments much like Kisshu's: a short and baggy miniskirt that lay low across her hips, higher on the right side than the left; a bare midriff; a skimpy top; cloths wrapped around her forearms and the calves of her legs; bare feet. The top might have once been a rather hot pink, but it was dirty and very faded; the other garments had perhaps been black, or dark gray, but they were faded even more. Her eyes were huge with fear and disbelief.

"Aoyama… kun?" she mumbled. Tears were dripping from her eyes and across her cheeks. "Am I dreaming again?"

"You are not dreaming," the boy said. "It's really me." And he walked up slowly to her, and took her in his arms. "Ichigo," he whispered.

She was crying uncontrollably now, and she suddenly pushed him away. He looked at her, uncomprehending, and she turned away from him. Between her sobs, she gasped out the words. "Aoyama-kun! I can't hold you any more. He ruined my body, he polluted my heart! Please, go away! I'm not good enough any more! I never was!"

But he stepped up and took her shoulder, and turned her back to himself. "Why? What do you mean, my love?"

At the word "love," she gasped, and then she spoke, every word filled with pain. "He… raped me. Every day, almost. Sometimes twice. I think the only days he doesn't is when he wears himself out on his fangirls. I'm his slave here, his… his sex slave. He uses me, and then discards me, and goes running around with those fangirls. I'm worthless now! I was saving myself for you, and now, I'm used, used up, no good any more. And my heart can't love any more! All it knows is pain and hatred! Aoyama-kun, please go! I can't bear for you to see me like this!"

But Aoyama looked into her red, weeping eyes, and whispered, "What kind of a monster do you think I am, to leave you when you need me? I was born to protect you! _And… I… love… you!" _He took her into his arms, though she tried to push him away, and held her tightly. And then he kissed her with a warmth that she had never before felt, and she closed her eyes and gave in to the kiss, and so she did not see the light glow, as he changed.

But when she opened her eyes, she found that she was kissing the Blue Knight. And he said, quietly, "I guess that I can still be the Blue Knight, when you are in danger." And he kissed her again.

Then Zakuro and Taruto entered the room silently. And she looked at them, and then back to the one that loved her so. And then quietly, fearfully, she asked , "Can you get me away from him?" Her eyes grew wide now. "I fear that you will have to kill him to get me away!"

But Zakuro spoke quietly. "We cannot kill him. I will never forgive him, or stop hating him. But we have made an oath, to Pai and Taruto, that we would not kill him, or maim him permanently. It was part of the price we paid for getting our trip to this world, to look for you."

"So you got here with Pai and Taruto?" Ichigo asked. "Why did they bring you here? And how did you know that I was here?"

The wolf-girl answered, "We paid for our trip here with a Mew Aqua fragment – the one Lettuce found in Tokyo Bay last spring. They're desperate for the stuff. As for why we came – it was Lettuce that figured it out. We think that Mint and Berry, out of hatred for you, betrayed you to Kisshu, and then stole your pendant so you could not defend yourself. And then Kisshu kidnapped you."

"Those two bastards did more than betray me," Ichigo moaned bitterly. "Kisshu attacked me, but I fought him off and hurt him and got away. Then Mint and Berry came up, and I thought they would save me, but they – but they…." She shrieked the words: "They grabbed me and held me while he beat me and drugged me. When I woke up, we were in his spaceship, halfway here."

She turned away from the others and walked back to the paper screen. "He wanted me to love him, but I hate him. I wouldn't give him even a kiss, or anything, so he started taking what he wanted. The more I fought him, the better he liked it. He used me, he ruined me, and when he got me back here, he locked me in this room, and he keeps me here – he keeps me here as his toy."

"And now, miracle of miracles, somebody comes, and I find that they've made an oath, and they can't save me!" She knocked the screen over and turned back to the other three. "Get out! You useless bastards! Get out!"

But Aoyama said, "If we break the oath, and give Kisshu what he deserves, Pai will never take us home. They will kill us all, or keep us all here as slaves until we die."

But Ichigo shrieked, "Then why the hell did you come, if you can't help me?"

Then Zakuro stepped up, and her eyes were filled not with anger over Ichigo's tantrum, but rather, with pity. And she said, quietly, "There is one other who can save you, one who did not take the oath."

"Who?" the redhead demanded. "That alien brat?"

Zakuro shook her head. And then she reached out to Ichigo, and in her hand was a pendant.

Ichigo took it. "My pendant? Where did you find it?" she gasped.

"Mint stole it," Zakuro said. "Probably while you took the shower after Berry dumped the dessert tray on you, the night you were kidnapped. I got it back."

Ichigo closed her hand tightly around the pendant. "Why? Why did they betray me? We were friends!"

And Zakuro said, with deep sadness: "Envy. Jealousy. Berry was envious if the attention you got. She wants to be the leader, and doesn't like it when we turn to you. Mint was jealous because she – well, you know what she wants of me, and she thought you and I had a thing going on."

"Is she crazy?" Ichigo asked incredulously. "There's nothing like that between us. I'm not like that – nor are you, I don't think."

"She's not crazy, though her twisted desires have made her somewhat stupid," Zakuro responded. "But I think now…"

The voice of the Blue Knight interrupted the conversation. "Hey! He's coming! I can tell!"

So Zakuro said, "Let's set up the screen, and Ichigo, you transform and get behind it. Give him a surprise!" And in seconds the screen was up, and the other three slipped out of the room. They retreated up the hall to the kitchen, where they could watch what went on.

"Don't you kill him!" Taruto shouted, as they left. He tried to stay, but they dragged him back with them. Then they waited in the kitchen, and within two minutes they saw through the barred window in the door the air shimmer, and then Kisshu appeared.

"Go away! Please, Kisshu, not today!" moaned Ichigo's voice, between sobs. "Please! Leave me alone!"

But Kisshu's voice, cocky and demanding, said, "Time to play, my kitten. Come on out, or I'll take you down back there!"

Taruto was trying to warn him, but the far stronger Blue Knight clamped his hand tightly around the child alien's mouth, and held him firmly.

And then a glowing light began shining through the barred window, and they heard a voice of great power: "Ribbon: Strawberry… Surprise!"

As the spinning Ichigo rose above the paper screen, Kisshu was shocked into immobility for a second. Then he tried to teleport out, and the air began to shimmer; but the second of immobility had been one second too long. A massive blast of magical light crashed into him, and threw him back against he door, which broke off its hinges. And the smashed alien was thrown back up the hall, and ended up flat on his back on the floor near the kitchen door.

"Kisshu!" Taruto wailed, and he slipped out of the Blue Knight's hands and ran to his friend. Kisshu was battered and his body was quite broken. His clothes were torn and singed in places, and black marks were scattered all over his face. But Taruto shook him, and he opened his eyes; he lived still.

"You're alive!' Taruto shouted.

But then Mew Ichigo came up, her tattered alien clothes replaced by her pink Mew Mew minidress, her cat ears pulled back in anger, her pink eyes blazing. She stood over the fallen alien, and Taruto screamed, "Don't kill him!" But Ichigo raised her pink-booted foot, to stomp him where it would hurt him the most, to destroy that which had so hurt her.

"Please no!" Taruto begged; and Ichigo stopped, and looked at the child. "I could save his fangirls a lot of hurt," she muttered. And then she stepped past the prostrate alien.

Then the Blue Knight came up, with his sword drawn. And he pointed it at Kisshu's groin; and Kisshu's amber alien eyes grew wide in terror. "No!" he screamed. And then Taruto forced his body between the sword point and Kisshu.

"Do not kill him, Aoyama," Zakuro said, in her most commanding voice.

"This won't kill him," the Blue Knight muttered.

"Do not kill him, or maim him," the wolf-girl said, reminding the Blue Knight of his oath.

And so the Knight turned away from the helpless alien, and walked through the kitchen door to stand by Ichigo.

And finally Zakuro said, "Taruto, I think you can teleport him over to Pai. I don't think he's hurt too permanently, just magic-shocked. Pai can see that we have not killed him, or maimed him." So Taruto got up off of Kisshu's body.

Zakuro looked down on the alien, who looked up at her with anger and hatred, and yet, with an attitude of total superiority. "You pathetic human filth. So you still can't do anything to me! Well, be sure: I'll get you back for this – all of you!"

But Zakuro said, in a hard voice: "I will never forgive you for what you did to Ichigo." And then she stomped on his groin with her booted foot before turning away.

Kisshu writhed in agony on the floor, but Zakuro said to Taruto: "We have not killed him, nor maimed him, as much as we would like to. Take him to Pai. We will be there in an hour." Then she walked through the kitchen door, leaving the two aliens there in the dingy hallway.

Taruto knelt next to the battered Kisshu, and shook his head. "This hasn't worked out the way you wanted it to, has it?" he asked.

Kisshu would have belted him, but he was in far too much pain.


	14. The Truth Hurts: Part One

**Chapter 14: The Truth Hurts, Part One**

They walked back to Pai's space ship quickly, but that did not save them from the questioning gazes of the local populace. What the alien people saw was two strange creatures with animal ears and tails, accompanied, or maybe guarded, by one of their own. But the one of their own himself drew much attention: he was blond, which was very rare among these alien people, and he was dressed so differently. Indeed, in his long blue coat, he was dressed like royalty. And he was so handsome! Many of the local girls followed along after them for a while, to get a better look at the tall blond in blue. But he ignored them, and just kept striding forward, while the two strange female creatures walked with him, speaking in low voices, or at times followed behind him.

So it was less than an hour later when they approached the space ship. And Pai and Taruto were waiting for them. Pai was holding his fan of power, and Taruto his click-clack-ball weapon; and several chimera animas of various kinds stood around, backing them up. They ignored the chimeras, though, and passed between them, walking up to the two aliens that awaited them with dark faces.

Pai raised his hand to stop them, and his voice was harsher by far even than usual. "You have a lot of gall, coming back here so proudly, after what you did to Kisshu."

At the alien's words, and their implied threat, the three Earthlings halted. But then Zakuro stepped forward, until she stood directly before the tall alien. She said in a hard and fearless voice, "And you have even more gall, threatening us after what Kisshu did to Ichigo."

Both of the aliens scowled even more, and Taruto simply said, "Let's turn the chimera animas loose, and pound them."

But Pai shook his head, and then said in their own alien tongue, "No, Taruto. First, we will hear their side of the story. Then, we will destroy them." He then raised his voice and said, in Japanese, "Cat-girl. What do you say that Kisshu did to you?"

Zakuro shorted. "Really – do you pretend you do not know?"

Pai responded, "Kisshu says that you attacked him when he was unready, took him by surprise, and would have killed him if Taruto had not teleported him out of there."

"That is nonsense," Zakuro said. "If we were the aggressors, how did Ichigo get here? If she came by her own will, why did you never see her? Why did Kisshu keep her locked in his house?"

Pai pointed his finger directly into Ichigo's face. "Human, tell your story. Just do not expect us to believe it."

Ichigo trembled, though the others could not tell if the trembling was due to anger or fear. Then, quietly, she spoke. "Kisshu attacked me on Earth. He beat me, and kidnapped me, and brought me here. And he kept me locked up as his slave. He,,, used me for his… pleasure."

Anger blazed in the eyes of the aliens, but before they could do anything, another voice was heard behind them: "Liar!"

They turned, and there was Kisshu. He had come out of the space ship where they had treated his injuries. He strutted up and stood beside the other two aliens. It hardly looked as if he had been hurt at all; these aliens must have had wonderful ways of healing.

Then he pointed at Ichigo, and sneered: "You filthy liar. I came to get you because you wanted to be with me, and you said you were sick of the worthless losers on your pathetic backward planet. You came with me because you wanted to, and you wanted my body more than I wanted yours. And now you're jealous, because I prefer my fangirls here to some loser of a human, and you got these poor fools to come and get back at me. You could have gone home any time you wanted, if you had just asked."

The Blue Knight shouted, "You lie!" And his sword appeared in his hand.

Zakuro took her cross, and Ichigo her Strawberry Bell. The chimera animas began closing in on all sides: three that seemed to have been formed of the multi-legged reptiles, and three that looked like giant pumpkins with vile faces – the latter doubtlessly the work of Taruto. In another breath the fighting would begin.

But Pai raised his fan, and said loudly, "No! Not yet!"

They all looked at him, wondering what he would say that could somehow stop the killing that was about to happen. And he said, "I have heard two stories, completely opposed to each other. One is a lie, the other might be truth. So which is true – or are both lies? I trust Kisshu far more than these alien creatures."

Then he turned to the child beside him. "Taruto!"

"Can we crush them now?" the child said.

But Pai continued, "What happened when you took the humans to Kisshu's house?"

Taruto said nothing at first. His eyes darted around, glancing at the smirking Kisshu, then at the humans, then at the chimera animas. No words came to his lips.

The Pai said again, "Taruto! It's time for you to grow up, and tell the truth. What happened at Kisshu's house?"

Again the child alien's eyes darted around, but this time they stopped while looking upon Kisshu. The teen alien's lips were still twisted into a smirk, but his eyes were hard and dangerous. Then the child looked out at Ichigo, and then he faced Pai, and choked the words out. "The… humans… lied."

Kisshu smirked far more openly, and shouted, "Chimeras… attack!"

The three reptilian chimera animas immediately spewed a vile acid venom at the three humans, while the pumpkins spit explosive seeds from their jagged mouths. But the humans all leaped high, and when the acid and seeds hit the ground where they had been moments before, they did no damage. Ichigo was spinning, and Strawberry Surprise tore through the ranks of the reptiles, while the Zakuro Spear slashed a pumpkin into little more than pie filling. Then Pai's fan hurled lightning at Ichigo, but the Blue Knight blocked it with his sword.

Kisshu had his swords out, and he hurled himself into the fray. In a few seconds either he or his hated enemy, the Blue Knight, would die.

And Taruto stood and did nothing while the world exploded in war around him.

A second pumpkin fell to Zakuro's whip, and Ichigo finished off the reptiles; but of course, the aliens could just make more. Kisshu and the Blue Knight were battling wildly, and it seemed as if Kisshu was getting the worst of it. But then Pai again hurled lightning, and the Knight, busy fighting Kisshu, did not see it coming. He was hit, and knocked down hard.

And a gloating Kisshu leaped upon him, to finish him off. But then suddenly Taruto screamed at the top of his lungs, "No!" And the last pumpkin spit a seed that knocked Kisshu away from the Blue Knight.

"What?" shouted Pai. He looked at the child alien, and stopped hurling his lightning.

"Pai, stop them! Stop the fight!" Taruto screamed.

And Pai's fan sent a screaming blast of wind that blew Kisshu and the Knight apart from each other. Then he took the child by the front of his shirt, and shouted, "Now what is the meaning of this?"

For a second, the roar of battle suddenly ceased, and all was quiet. And in the silence, Taruto spoke. "Pai, the humans told the truth. At Kisshu's house, the girl was locked up and hiding and very much afraid. She said that Kisshu… that Kisshu… ah, used her. Every day."

Kisshu approached, and his eyes were wild. "It was all an act! I tell you, she wanted to be here, and wanted everything I did to her! She just put on an act for those other fool humans!"

But Taruto said, "When Kisshu came, the humans were hiding, and he didn't know we were there. And he teleported into the room were the girl was, and he demanded… well, that she… you know…"

"Yes, I know," Pai muttered. He ground his teeth.

"Kisshu, you _baka!" _he shouted. It was one Japanese word he had learned to like. "Isn't having every one of our girls following you around like a puppy good enough for you? In your lust for this fool human, you risked war, and worse. You risked the Mew Aqua they brought."

Kisshu got right in the older alien's face. "Who's the fool?" he shouted back, with many nasty alien expletives. "You believe these pathetic creatures instead of me?"

Pai, his face now impassive, shook his head. "No, though by now I should have learned my lesson about trusting you. No, I do not believe those creatures before you. But, I do believe Taruto before you. And their story makes a lot more sense than yours, anyway." He waved his fan, and the last chimera anima collapsed into an old jack-o-lantern and the little jellyfish that made it a chimera.

Kisshu stepped up to Taruto and got right in the child's face, his own face red with anger. "You'll pay for this!" he barked through clenched teeth.

Taruto, his eyes huge with fear, could say nothing; but Pai said, "Kisshu, get yourself home, now, or I will let the humans give you what you have coming – and I will help them do it."

Kisshu, wild anger surging in his eyes, backed off – barely.

Then Pai turned to the others. "Come on board the ship, humans. I will get you back to your world before any more fighting happens. We don't need a war with your kind now. If your blond friend gives me the Mew Aqua, we will take you home."

He turned to the child alien. "Taruto, come aboard. We're all fueled up for the return trip. I just have to contact the authorities, to make sure that no one gives Kisshu a space ship to follow us." Then he turned to the three humans. "Well, get on board now. You're half a breath away from starting a war with an entire planet. This is your last chance to get out of here."

And the humans looked at each other; and then Ichigo stepped forward, and said, very formally: "We accept your offer." And she bowed; and then they boarded the ship, where they found Ryou locked in the hold.

Then Pai and Taruto boarded the ship, and in a matter of a few minutes, it was powering up and taking off.

And Kisshu stood, and watched, and swore bitterly, "You will pay for this, Kitten. I swear: you will be mine."

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

Half a day out from the planet, Taruto was sitting alone and sniffling, and crying a little. Pai noticed and came over, and said, "Taruto, I'm proud of you."

But the child said, "I'll miss Kisshu. He was my best friend."

"That is why I am so proud of you," the elder alien said. And then he walked quietly away.

Again the child sniffled, and he hung his head. Then Zakuro came up, and touched his cheek, and raised his face. And she said, quietly, "Truth. It is precious, but it can hurt so much." And Taruto hung his head again, and wept.


	15. The Truth Hurts: Part Two

**Chapter 15: The Truth Hurts, Part Two**

Ichigo noticed that the streets were different now – they were nearing her home. Keiichiro had picked them up with the speedboat, so they were driving to Ichigo's house not from the café or some other familiar place, but from the marina. They had decided that Ichigo would be taken home first, so they had been driving through parts of Tokyo that Ichigo had never seen. Tokyo was so huge! But now, they were close to home, and she knew: just a few more blocks.

She was excited, but she was afraid. Things had gone wrong right to the end. Ryou had made trouble, though he had been right. The aliens needed Mew Aqua, and they had found a way to get it: just kidnap someone and hold her for a ransom paid in the magical stuff. Pai had been more than a little offended, and had said that the kidnapping had happened not because of the aliens' need for Mew Aqua, but because of Kisshu's twisted lust. And that was true; but the precedent had been set. They had not parted on good terms.

And now she would have to face her parents. First it would be just her mother, if she were home; her father was certainly at work. But there would have to be some explaining. They had gone over many stories she could tell. Most of them had to do with her running away, getting amnesia, and that sort of thing. But those were lies, and lies made her think of Kisshu, and she thought: I will not be like him! And if she said that she had run away, and put everyone through hell by not telling anyone, she would be punished severely. And then there was the manner of her clothing: Keiichiro had brought on the boat her waitress uniform, which was all they had that would fit her, though it was a little big now – she had lost weight while under Kisshu's tender loving care. If she had run away, she would not come home wearing that.

Or, of course, she could just say nothing, and refuse to explain anything. But that would be so cruel to her parents. And they had suffered so much!

Then they turned into her home street, and stopped far down the block. They would only watch, to make sure that there was someone home to let Ichigo in, for her house key had been lost somewhere between the kidnapping and Lovatron. She could have called ahead on Keiichiro's cell phone, of course, and her mother would get the call and be there for her no matter where she was when the call came in. But if she called her mother, she would have to either start explaining things over the phone, which would be even harder than doing it face-to-face, or she could hang up, which would be cruel. And her mother and father had been through enough. Only if there was no one home, they decided, she would call on the cell.

Then she got out of the car, and so did the others. And she hugged each of them and thanked them for saving her life. It was not easy hugging Ryou, considering what she knew now about his non-obsession. But she did, for he, too, had risked his life to save hers. Then she kissed Masaya, her beloved Aoyama-kun, long and deeply. Whatever hurt in her heart that had caused her to push him away back on Lovatron he had now overcome. And finally Ichigo reminded them that her return would remain, for now, a secret to the other Mew Mews. They all knew why: she wanted to confront Mint and Berry, and as ugly as that might turn out, they understood why. Then she turned from them and walked up the sidewalk alone. Zakuro had done her hair, and except for the few missing pounds, she looked like the same old Ichigo.

But they knew it was not so, and she knew it more than anyone. She had been hurt, and had lost hope and despaired of her life. She had been a virgin; now she was very used, and ill-used at that. She had seen so much of the ugliness that life could offer, far too much for a young girl to see. Her body seemed scarcely changed, but her heart was scarred permanently by Kisshu's selfish lust, and by her own anger, hatred, and bitterness. She wondered if she would ever feel real joy again.

She arrived at the house, and turned to the door. Her steps were heavy; she had yet to get used to Earth's greater gravity. And she did not want to take those final steps. She wanted to see her parents again, but she was so afraid. It seemed to take forever to take those few steps…

She rang the doorbell. The seconds ticked by, each one taking ages…

The door opened, and a red-haired woman stood there, a woman whose eyes popped wide open upon seeing the girl at the door.

"Mother…" Ichigo began.

"ICHIGO!" her mother screamed, and engulfed her in an embrace so full of passion that Ichigo was overwhelmed - the passion of a mother for her only child. Her mother kept hugging Ichigo, and would not release her. "Oh, Ichigo, I can't believe this! We thought you were dead! Oh, Ichigo, Ichigo, my dearest, where were you? Oh, Ichigo…" Her tears of joy poured down over both of them.

And Ichigo said, "Mother. Can we go inside?"

And they did, and the door closed, and her mother took her to the sofa in the front room, and sat next to her, and hugged her more and more. But then she asked again, "My daughter, what happened? Where were you these last three months?"

There it was – the question she would have to answer! Ichigo took one last second to go over all the stories, all the explanations, all the lies she could have told. But no: those lies would make her like Kisshu. And so she pushed herself a little away from her mother, and looked her mother in the eyes, and said slowly, haltingly: "Mother, the truth can be hard, and painful. But it is precious." She bit her lip, hard, and then said, "I was kidnapped… by a perverted space alien that was obsessed with me. Yes, uh, kidnapped. And he hauled me away to a distant planet, where he kept me as, his... as his slave, and he used me… for his… pleasure, you know what I mean." She got up from the sofa and turned her back to her mother. "Then some people from the café found out about it, and they traveled there, too, and rescued me…" She turned back to her mother and again stared into her eyes. "And we made that pervert pay for what he did to me. And then they took me home."

Her mother could say nothing to such a story, but just kept staring into Ichigo's eyes, her mouth hanging open.

Ichigo again turned away. "I know, it's unbelievable. I thought of all kinds of lies I could tell, lies that you might believe. But mother, no more lies, no more hiding the truth."

She turned back to her mother and backed off a few more feet. "Mother, please don't think I don't love you. But for two years I have kept so many secrets, awful secrets, from you. I've hidden my life from you, and you deserved better. I was afraid…"

Momomiya Sakura, Ichigo's mother, just sat in silence, shaking her head. And Ichigo knew: the story was too unbelievable. Her mother thought that she was lying, and Ichigo was hurting her again. And then she knew what she must do. The truth was hard. It could hurt deeply, but there was no other way.

Ichigo stepped back, and said: "Mother, please don't hate me for this." And she took the pendant she wore around her neck, and kissed it, and said in a clear, strong voice: "Mew Mew Strawberry, metamorpho-sis!" And she rose into the air, and began spinning as light enveloped her. Her waitress uniform became a frilly pink minidress, her hair and eyes became pink, and then there were cat ears, and a tail… and finally she settled down before her mother, who sat in silence, her mouth hanging open.

Then her mother rose, and somehow spoke. "You have a tail! _You have a tail! __A TAIL! _ Who are you? _What are you? _Where is my daughter? Where is my Ichigo?" She was gasping for breath, overwhelmed by what she had seen.

But Ichigo stepped up and embraced her mother, and whispered, "I am Ichigo, your daughter, your only child. But do you remember a year or so ago, when everything was going crazy and the city was turning into a forest and Father was so angry at all of it? Do you remember those Mew Mews that were on the TV?"

Momomiya Sakura nodded, and Ichigo, said, "Mother, I'm a Mew Mew. I was made a Mew Mew two years ago."

Her mother pushed her away a little again. "Just what is that?" she muttered. "And how…"

"I will tell you all, my mother," Ichigo said. "No more secrets! Just believe me. I am really your daughter, your Ichigo, the same daughter you're always loved. But first, I think we should call Dad." She shook her head. "Telling you was hard enough. How will I ever tell Dad? He'll go crazy!"

But Ichigo's mother just embraced her daughter again, and said, quietly, "Tell me the whole story, and I'll try to believe it. But just one thing – can you lose the tail?"

And Ichigo burst into tears and cried uncontrollably on her mother's shoulder, and her mother cried with her.


	16. The Truth REALLY Hurts

**Chapter 16: The Truth REALLY Hurts**

Mint sighed. For weeks Zakuro had been gone, and Mint had hardly been able to carry on without her idol. Everything had gone wrong, starting with that awful night when she had finally gotten her precious Zakuro to her home, alone. It had been her great chance; of that she was sure. She was sure that if she could only get Zakuro in her arms, if only she could kiss Zakuro with her lips, then her idol – the most beautiful, wonderful person on Earth – would be convinced of her love, and would be hers forever. And then what had she done? She had drunk too much champagne, too quickly, and had passed out.

She was so ashamed of that. She had awakened on her bed, the empty bottle near her hand, and her beloved had been gone. She had been so close! But after that horrible incident, she had been too embarrassed to approach Zakuro again. And then Zakuro had left, and gone out of town for over two weeks! But now she was back.

Mint had been worried when she left town, because Ryou had also been gone during that time. Had they gone somewhere together? It had been hard enough to get rid of that ugly whore Ichigo; the thought of that vulgar skank touching her precious Zakuro still made Mint's stomach turn. If now there was something between Zakuro and Ryou…? That would be hard to overcome. Ryou was a lot smarter than the moronic Ichigo, and besides, he was a guy. It would be a lot harder to get between Zakuro and a guy than it would be to get between between Zakuro and another girl. But on the other hand, she had no real reason to believe that the two had gone off together. And Zakuro was back, while Ryou was still nowhere to be seen.

And Mint and Zakuro were alone at the café. The others would be coming soon, but they were not there yet. Keiichiro was busy in the back, preparing the evening's pastries, and the café would not be open to customers for almost half an hour. Mint knew this was her chance, her time. She had only a few minutes! And so she walked over to the tall idol. Approaching from the back, she wrapped her arms around Zakuro's slender waist and pulled her own body against her idol's back, and laid her head between her beloved's shoulder blades.

"Guess who?" she whispered.

Zakuro hesitated for a few seconds, and then forcefully took Mint's hands and pulled them apart. Then stepped away, turning with anger in her eyes. "Minto! I told you, no!"

The anger in her idol's eyes set off something in Mint's heart, and she snapped back, "You wanted me that other night, two weeks ago, when you came to my house!"

"Did I?" Zakuro growled back. "I never said such a thing, and didn't touch you, though you came on to me all evening. When are you going to learn that my door doesn't swing that way? How many times do I have to tell you?"

Mint's voice hissed. "If your door doesn't swing that way, as you say, then why were you messing with that ugly whore Ichigo?"

Zakuro's voice grew dark and menacing. "I never touched Ichigo that way, never tried, never, ever."

"You lie!" the shorter girl half-shrieked.

Almost faster than Mint could see, Zakuro's right hand lashed across Mint's face with a loud slap. "I do not lie, you little bitch! And don't drag Ichigo's memory through the mud that way!"

Mint pointed her index finger right in Zakuro's face. "I saw you! You and that red-headed skank, going at it in the park behind the café."

"What?" Zakuro's voice rose. "I never did such a thing. When did that supposedly happen?"

"It was back shortly before the skank disappeared," Mint said. "That night I, uh, um, I approached you! You refused me, and then later you slipped out the back for a little action with her! Don't deny it! I saw you!"

Dark anger blazed in Zakuro's sapphire eyes. "So now you follow me around and spy on me? You little creep! All that happened that night was that Ichigo had a little squabble with her precious Aoyama-kun. It was nothing, but it was the first time they had anything like a fight – can you imagine that, one fight in two years – and to Ichigo, it was the end of the world. The poor kid always thought she wasn't good enough for Aoyama, and she was convinced that now he would leave her! So I took her out back for a little talk and a hug. I let her cry on my shoulder for a little while. That's all, Minto. She was crying on my shoulder, but in your filthy mind, it had to be something sexual. You disgust me!"

"Zakuro! Onee-sama!" Mint wailed, her heart suddenly shattering.

But Zakuro said, her voice dripping with contempt, "Don't you ever touch me again! I have no romantic feelings for you or any other woman. None! And believe me, if my door did swing that way, I'd take any other woman on earth before I'd even think of touching you. I'd say I hate you, but you're not worth the effort it takes to hate."

"Onee-sama!" Mint bawled. "You can't do this to me! This is the absolute worst day of my life! This is the worst thing that could ever happen to me!" And one last time, she reached out her hands toward the older girl.

But Zakuro just crossed her arms, and a strange small smile curled her lips. "The worst thing that could ever happen? I think not! Something a whole lot worse is going to happen to you, you filthy little traitor."

Mint stopped reaching, confusion in her blue eyes…

And then, behind her, a voice spoke, a hard, cruel voice. "Hello… Mint."

Mint turned, and there behind her stood Ichigo, all transformed, with her deadly Strawberry Bell in her left hand, and blazing anger in her pink eyes.

"What? How…?" Mint babbled, as Ichigo strode up to her until she was only a few feet away. Then in her panic, Mint reached for her pendant, but Ichigo was quicker, and she seized the pendant and tore it from Mint's neck, and hurled it aside.

And then Ichigo said through gritted teeth: "You damned traitor! Give me just one reason why I shouldn't kill you! _Just one!"_

Mint stood there, her mouth agape, her eyes huge with terror. Her breath came in desperate gasps, but no words came from her lips.

"I didn't think so!" Ichigo growled, and then her right fist slammed full into Mint's face. The dark-haired traitor crashed to the floor hard, and in a second Ichigo was on her. Her Strawberry Bell was gone now, and her left hand seized Mint's throat while she cocked her right fist. "He raped me, you bastard! Every day, almost! Give me one reason why you shouldn't die for giving me to him! Just one!"

Mint struggled to escape, but Ichigo was much the stronger even without transforming. Now, with Ichigo transformed into a Mew Mew, she was many times stronger than the smaller Minto. Her fist smashed a second time into Mint's face, while the death-grip of her left hand choked her savagely. "You put my parents and my friends through hell! You hurt all of the Mew Mews! You…" For a few seconds Ichigo's voice choked in anger, but then she screamed, _"Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you! JUST ONE!"_

And her arm cocked again, to beat this hateful creature senseless. But then, a single word sounded, "One."

And Ichigo's fist stopped. The voice was Zakuro's, who was still standing where she had been before, her arms still crossed. Then she stepped up and looked down into the wild animal eyes of Mew Ichigo, while both Ichigo and Minto looked up at her.

"One," she said. "Because your parents have suffered enough, losing their daughter for three months. They don't deserve to lose you for the rest of your life, in prison for murder."

Ichigo hesitated, trembling with anger and hatred. Then another voice spoke, for someone else had entered the room. Ichigo knew the voice: it was Lettuce. "Two. Because Aoyama Masaya deserves a girlfriend he can go out with and properly love, and not just visit at the women's prison for the rest of _his _life."

Ichigo's lips now moved, and in a choked whisper, she gasped, "Aoyama… kun…?"

Then another voice spoke. Ichigo knew that voice, also: Keiichiro. "Three. Because your friends love you, and the people here, and we don't want to see you go to prison."

Ichigo's body began to relax, and then Zakuro spoke again: "Four. Because as much as she can disturb and anger me, Mint is my friend, who has helped us save the world, and I don't want to see her die."

"Onee-sama!" Mint gasped, as the cat-girl's grip on her throat began to loosen.

And yet another voice spoke behind Ichigo, another voice she knew, Ryou: "Five. Because if you kill Mint and destroy your life and hers, you will also destroy the Mew Project, and give the victory to that bastard Kisshu."

Ichigo released her grip on Mint's throat, dropped her head, and closed her eyes, as the tears began leaking out. And Zakuro spoke one last time. "Six. Because you are the finest human being I have ever met, with the greatest spirit and the greatest power for good. I could not imagine admiring anyone more than I admire you. And I could not bear to see all that goodness turn to evil and death."

The there was silence, broken only by the gasping breaths of Ichigo and Mint. Then slowly Ichigo climbed off the traitor's body, and struggled to her feet. She looked around at the others, saying nothing. Then she took her pendant in her right hand, and suddenly she was a Mew Mew no longer as she transformed back into plain Momomiya Ichigo. Then she lowered her eyes, and staring at her own feet and nothing else, she headed for the door.

They all knew: she would leave, and she would not come back.

But then someone seized her around the waist, and held her tightly. It was Pudding, and she said, through tears: "No! Ichigo, don't go! We need you! And you're my friend! Don't go!"

Ichigo looked at the child who held her. Pudding was sincere; she always was. But as a child she had no clue as to what kind of hell Ichigo's life had become. She could endure the pain no longer! She had to get out of that place, had to get away from those people. Just to be near them was torture! But it was hard for her to cast a child away.

And then someone else was approaching: Lettuce. Ichigo cringed. She knew what was coming: the pathetically-sweet Lettuce would apologize and beg forgiveness. Ichigo had no clue as to what Lettuce would apologize for, but she would certainly apologize. And the green-haired girl stopped, and dropped her eyes, and begged, "Ichigo, I'm sorry for everything. Please forgive me! Please!"

Anger exploded in Ichigo's breast. Must that wuss Lettuce be such a spineless weakling? What was she apologizing for? She gritted her teeth, and her words came slowly. "Lettuce, stop apologizing. I don't even know what you're apologizing for."

Lettuce looked up and stared into Ichigo's eyes. "For all of the envy, all of the jealousy, all of the hatred in my heart," she muttered.

Ichigo noticed that Lettuce had maneuvered herself between Ichigo and the door. So that was her game! So Ichigo said, "Lettuce, dear Lettuce, you made up for any bad feelings a thousand times over when you figured out what had happened to me, and guided the others to rescue me. Now get out of the way, and let me go. We'll call it even, and you owe me nothing. And no more apologies!"

But Lettuce did not move. "No, Ichigo. You'll have to go over me to run away. I won't let you go."

"You're as bad as Kisshu!" Ichigo muttered. She sized up Lettuce. The green-haired girl was taller than Ichigo, and she was strong. Neither girl was transformed. It would be a good fight, not like the one-sided pummeling of that filth Mint. She pulled Pudding's hands apart from around her waist, and said, "Pudding, you'll have to back off, now. This is between Lettuce and me."

She looked around the room; they were all watching. Keiichiro and Ryou stood back near the kitchen door. Zakuro and Mint stood back near where Ichigo had pounded Mint; they had not moved. Mint was still in tears, and the tears were dripping down her battered face. Blood dripped, too, from Mint's tiny nose. And Zakuro held Mint, to steady and comfort her, her left arm around Mint's shoulder. Mint's head lay against Zakuro's breast. And a tiny smile touched Ichigo's lips; one way or another, that little creep would get into Zakuro's arms.

Ichigo turned back to Lettuce, who had not moved. Lettuce was clumsy when she was not transformed, and Ichigo thought to fake a few quick punches to Lettuce's face, and when she covered up, take her out with some kung-fu kicks. Lettuce would be too slow to stop them…

But Ichigo knew she was kidding herself. Guilt was already torturing her for what she had done to Mint, and Mint deserved everything that she had gotten, and a thousand times more. Beating up Lettuce would be far more than she could endure.

And then Ichigo realized that Lettuce knew that. Damn, that girl was so smart! She was walking forward, getting close to Ichigo now. But she would not attack, of course. She stretched out her hand to Ichigo.

And Ichigo muttered, quite loudly. "Oh, blast it, anyway. What's the use? I couldn't leave you guys in a million years." And Lettuce embraced her, and everyone in the room breathed more easily.

But just then, the door opened, and someone else entered the room. Berry!

"Hi, everyone, what's going on?" she asked in her sing-song, too-sweet voice. Then her voice changed suddenly, and she screeched, "Hey! What the hell is SHE doing here?"

The room was silent, as Ichigo turned from Lettuce and began advancing toward Berry. Then Ryou said, "Ichigo, you've got only two minutes to pound her, and then we have to open up for the evening."

Berry accepted the challenge. She was sure she was better. She was sure that she could take Ichigo.

But she couldn't.

**THE END.  
**


End file.
